IYR 2: Revenge
by Mandy Kay Miller
Summary: The leader of the Int'l Yeerk Resistance is a psychopathic genius who has it out for Visser One, with David as his informer.  The Animorphs are in their way, and everything is personal.  Sam may be dead, but they still have Visser One and David to face.
1. Sam

RACHEL

Visser One was absolutely livid. Once Raúl said the name "Sam" she struggled violently in her chair as she tried to scream and yell, but it was muffled because of the gag. Marco stared at her in horror. I'm sure he'd never seen his mother act this way, but I'd come to expect it. I never met his mom before she "died," so to me she had always just been Visser One. Always been the enemy. I couldn't imagine what he was going through right now, but it was probably a good thing he couldn't speak.

Raúl – or Sam – laughed when he saw her reaction. "That's right," he told her. "I know how long you've been hunting me, and I admit it was difficult for me to keep my cover for this long, but I finally have you. And you and your host are going to share in the most unimaginable torture for the things you've put me through."

((What about us?)) Tobias asked him.

"The three of you will be contained," he replied simply. "I trust you won't do anything stupid. After all, we wouldn't want to become enemies, would we?"

((Given the fact that you forced us to demorph by using physical harm, we might be already.))

"Don't talk like that. I just knew you wouldn't take orders from me unless you had a good reason."

The door opened and Raúl entered, holding a gun up, aimed and ready. Behind him, Manny and the other two Spaniard boys. I didn't know where they'd come from; they must have been tailing us. That didn't surprise me. To be honest, at this point nothing would surprise me.

Raúl/Sam was smiling. The black Spaniard shut the door and stood in front of it as Manny and the other Spaniard approached Marco and I. Manny went to Marco and the nameless Spanish boy walked up to me. They didn't touch us, but they were close enough where they could stop us if we did anything stupid. I wondered if they had guns, too, but didn't really want to find out. They didn't pay any attention to Tobias; Sam walked right up to Visser One.

"You've been looking for me for a long time, haven't you?" he asked her. She didn't reply; she couldn't, she was gagged. But she'd calmed down by now, realizing that she couldn't do anything while she was tied up. I couldn't imagine how angry she must have been. Vissers tend to get angry pretty fast, especially when they're helpless, and even more when it's by a foe they've been searching for. "Finally, here we are. It's a pleasure to meet you, Visser One."

He held the gun right up to her temple so that it pressed against the skin. "This is a Magnum," he explained. "Your host should be familiar with the concept of a gun to the head if you aren't already, you alien scum. You thought you could take the human race with your superior technology, but we are so much stronger than you will ever be, and we _will_ prevail, and use _all_ means necessary."

He turned around and looked to the rest of us. "Get them out of here," he told his boys. "Nobody should see this."

I looked at Marco. No reaction.

The Spanish boy grabbed my wrists harshly and pulled them behind my back. "Hey!" I said. "Not so hard!"

Handcuffs. Maybe they'd been in Raúl's front backpack pocket. Maybe the other guys brought them.

He made it so tight that it hurt my wrists. I hoped they wouldn't be on long, but I didn't figure I should complain. He grabbed the handcuffs by the chain that connects them and yanked me towards the door, which the black Spaniard opened promptly.

I looked at Marco. He was eyeing Tobias, and so was Sam. I wondered-

"Beto, the bird," Sam said sharply. Beto – the black guy – approached Tobias.

But Tobias wasn't about to give up. He took off and flew right into Beto's face. Beto waved his hands in the air trying to grab something, but he only got ahold of feathers, which flew out. I thought it would be a good time to escape, but my captor was holding tight onto the cuffs.

Sam wasn't into the hawk chase. He jumped and grabbed onto one of Tobias's legs. He pulled him down from the air and Tobias moved his feet and claws around as best he could, but Sam's hand was too high on his leg to be hit by one, and the free leg only caught air.

Sam brought him all the way down to the ground, got down on his knees, and then grabbed Tobias by the neck. He pressed his hands down so that Tobias couldn't duck out of grip. Tobias took a very submissive stance, crouching as low to the ground as he could, trying in vain to slip out of Sam's grip. But it was useless.

Beto was tearing the office apart, searching for something to contain Tobias. It took awhile, and finally he pulled out a file drawer.

"There's no top for that," Sam said, able to tell what he was thinking.

"We can put something on it and hold it shut," Beto replied with an authentic Spanish accent.

"You can't get it ou-"

Beto ripped the drawer out of the rest of the cabinet. He dumped the papers and folders onto the ground and handed it to Sam. Sam carefully placed it upside-down over Tobias.

"I hate to do this to you," Sam told Tobias as he held the drawer in place while Beto searched for something to put over the one side. "I know it's demeaning to be treated this way, but you know we have to."

((No, you don't,)) Tobias answered. ((We had a deal on what to do with the Visser. We're all working towards the same goal, so what are you hoping to accomplish?))

"This isn't the movies," Sam replied. "This isn't some storybook. There aren't two sides in this war. It's so much more complicated than that."

((I'm sitting in a file drawer, and I've got time.))

"I'm not explaining myself."

Beto brought over a darkly-stained slab of wood that had been used in a bookshelf. Sam carefully lifted the drawer not an inch off the ground, just enough for Beto to slide the wood underneath it. "Careful," Sam told Tobias. "Don't get your feet pinched."

((Believe me, worse things have happened.))

Sam laughed, then nodded to Beto. Beto picked up the wood, drawer on top of it. He put his chin on top of the drawer to make sure Tobias didn't lift it up to leave.

"If you drop that, I'm going to kill you," Sam warned. He was serious.

"I know," Beto answered. "I'll be careful."

"Leave me with the Visser."

The boys nodded and escorted Marco and I out of the room, Beto and Tobias trailing us. When the door shut, I heard Visser One begin to yell and rant. He must have ungagged her.

I bit my lip. Her voice was so full of hatred, and soon she was going to be silenced by Sam's torture. I looked at Marco. His eyes looked more moist than usual, but the rest of his face showed no emotion. He knew he couldn't give anything away. Sam already knew way too much about us.

It was the first time I'd seen Manny so incredibly serious. So incredibly distressed. He looked as trapped as Tobias was.


	2. I Will Break You

A/N to returning readers: I'm _so_ happy you are still reading! Thanks for bearing with me for this long! I know I'm not the best writer and I don't update as often as I should, but I really love to see the old faces (/pennames) reviewing. It's great to have you back!

To new readers: Okay, I figured the only people who would read this are those who read the first one... and was surprised when the first reviews I got were from new readers. I don't expect you to go back and read all of the first one (though some did! Thanks, nunya and SouthrnBelle!) so this is the shortest recap I can offer. A lot happened in the first one; if you want to read it, that would probably be better than this lame summary.

The Animorphs went to Spain to find V1 and met the International Yeerk Resistance (IYR) which began from a kid named Sam, who we learn committed suicide so the Yeerks couldn't infest him. They find that Manny now leads this resistance. Jake is worn out from leading, so Marco goes behind Jake's back and makes a deal with the IYR that he will kill V1. Rachel gets wind of this, and offers to help him.

Rachel and Marco go to find V1 with the IYR as backup, but when they get into a little trouble they find Jake had Tobias follow them. The story ends with Marco, Rachel, and Tobias stumbling into a room that has V1 tied, blindfolded, and gagged. They're forced to demorph and hear one of the "Spaniards'" voices over the intercom. But he no longer has an accent, because he'd been faking it. You find that Manny was never the driving force of the IYR. Sam is still alive, undercover as our dearly beloved Raúl.

Oh, and Sam and V1 have been trying to find each other since forever.

Ah, chapter 2:

MARCO

I half-expected us to be taken back to the concrete basement of that one building downtown, the place we held primary negotiations. But they blindfolded us, knocked us out, and when I came to, we were in some kind of room that felt like a prison. One entire wall had cells against it, but each cell was only separated from the next by bars. So from one cell at the end of the wall, you could see through all of them to the other end of the wall. Each cell was maybe 12x12 feet. We were all in separate cells, with Rachel in the corner, then Tobias, then me.

When I woke up I still had the blindfold on, but the handcuffs were gone. I reached to the back of my head and untied it. Tobias wasn't up yet, but Rachel was awake and pacing back and forth in her cell.

"You're up," she noted. "Finally."

"How long have you been awake?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. A couple hours."

I didn't have a headache or anything like that. They'd used a chemical cloth to knock us out; I remembered everything. Except the blindfold.

"Where are we? Have you seen them?"

Rachel extended her arms through the bars between her cell and Tobias's. I could see red marks all the way around her wrists, some skin scraped off here and there. "Look at what those jerks did to me," she spat. "When we get out of here, they're dead."

"What's that from?"

"The handcuffs."

"Did they hurt you?"

She scoffed and pulled her arms back to herself, resting them on her hips now. "No, they haven't touched me since I got up," she replied. "But I did see Manny."

I surveyed the place a little closer. The walls had been painted an obnoxious shade of white, which used to be a bright, pure white but now it was dirty here and there. It was obvious the place was old. For a second I hoped the bars had rusted, but looking at them carefully I didn't find anything.

"What did he say?" I asked as I looked out the other side of my cell, the side away from Rachel and Tobias.

"He didn't say much. He said that he couldn't. He just said he can't help us."

She was furious. The kind of furious where you expect the person to explode at any moment, and are grateful there's two sets of bars between you otherwise she might just lurch at you with her hands around your neck, just to kill something, anything. Rachel didn't get like that very often, but it didn't surprise me much. She definitely had the spunk to get like this. She was pacing again, too fast and stomping her feet too hard.

"He's just being modest," I replied. "He knows how to let us out. And I'd consider that quite helpful."

I tried to morph the wolf spider, but I should have known better. The second I started to change, the electric shock was back.

"And we can't morph," she added, turning and looking at me. I sighed.

"Thanks."

"I've been trying to figure out what to do," she said, still pacing restlessly. "Jake will know we're gone, but he won't know where. I know they'll be looking for us, but unless they get within thoughtspeak range for Tobias to broadcast, there's no way they'll find us. Even if we _can_ hear each other, by some miracle, none of _us_ know where we are, so it's not like we could give them directions."

"And they might have already passed this way while Tobias was out," I added. She nodded.

"Exactly. So in a nutshell, we're screwed."

"Unless Raúl has no reason to keep us here," I continued. "It just doesn't make sense. Why would he turn on us like that?"

"His name's Sam, and he's scum. He doesn't need a reason."

"A guy like him would have a reason," I insisted. Raúl – Sam – was smart. He was a linear thinker. Do action A, action B, accomplish goal C. I knew because I was the same way.

Rachel, on the other hand, never needed direction. She just ran around and killed stuff, which worked for her, but not guys like Sam and me.

"What do you think, he doesn't trust us?"

"I think he doesn't _like_ us," I answered. "There was no other reason for him to keep us contained."

"Unless he's afraid of us," she replied. "He knows we're more powerful than he is."

"You're overanalyzing." The voice. The somehow familiar, yet somehow unplaceable voice. I wondered when I would get used to it. Not Raúl's voice, but Sam's.

He came in through heavy steel doors. He was wearing baggy jeans and I got the feeling he had something in them, but I didn't see any hints of what it might be. Still, with his hands in his pockets he looked suspicious. Then again, he would always look suspicious to me now.

"Maybe I just don't share vissers very well," he told us. Rachel's hands shot off of her hips and onto the bars of her cell closest to Sam, gripping them tightly, hatred in her eyes.

"How dare you show your face," she spat. "You're dead meat once we get out of here. You can't keep us here forever."

Sam looked to the ground as though remorseful, and slowly shook his head. "No, I can't. But that's not part of the plan, anyways." He looked up and smiled at her, a smile neither of us had seen before. "Rachel, what kind of person do you think I am?"

"I think you're exactly what Jake pegged you as. A psychopath."

Sam laughed too loudly, too joyously. It made me want to puke. "Is that what he said?" he asked. "Not the friendliest guy, is he?"

"A million times the leader you'll ever be."

"Of course. You have to defend him, because he's your cousin."

I can't describe the look that came over her face. Twisted in confusion, but more in disgust. And was that – yes – a little bit of hurt. Her hands dropped from the bars, hanging limp at her sides. Her face twisted, her voice soft. "How... do you know that?"

Instead of answering, he turned his gaze straight at me. I wondered if he knew about my mom. Wondered if he was going to tell me how he tortured her in that room after we left, tell me about her death – if she was dead by now. Feared that he would put the same expression on my face.

But by some grace of God, he didn't.

"Not exactly an earth-shattering secret, right?" he asked me. "It's not like the two of them work to keep it under wraps. But you have a secret, don't you?"

I didn't say anything. The two middle fingers I had did, though.

Sam laughed, but not as much as before. "Does that mean yes?"

"You know what that means, gringo," I snapped.

He raised a hand and pointed at me with absolute firmness. "I will break you," he vowed. Then he turned to Rachel. "Nobody will be safe. You are all going to regret every decision you ever made that led you here."

"Well let's get started, then," she answered through gritted teeth. "Bring it on."

"Always over eager to suffer a pathetic fate," Sam said with mock sadness. "It's just how you live, isn't it, Rachel?"

I'd never seen it happen in real life... only in movies. But it was that moment Rachel chose to spit in Sam's face. He looked disgusted as he quickly wiped it away from his eyes, but he wasn't enraged like I hoped he would be. At least it wiped that dumb smile from his face. Now he was glaring at her.

"You know you're not helping yourself," he said grimly. Then he looked to Tobias, still out cold, and added, "and you certainly aren't helping anyone else."

Heroes never care about what happens to themselves, but they care deeply about what happens to their loved ones. Rachel's face showed her terror at what he said and the way he said it, his glare at Tobias. But she didn't say anything else. Neither did I.

"You will learn," Sam promised both of us. "You will break."


	3. Absence

A/N: I wanted to update again yesterday just for you, SouthrnBelle, but I got wrapped up in... life. But I updated again as soon as I could. Happy belated birthday. :-)

JAKE

I waited up late for Marco, Rachel, and Tobias to come back, but eventually sleep took over. To be honest, I wasn't very worried. They were with some natives who knew their way around and spoke the language. The mission probably just went late. I knew they'd come back eventually.

But when morning struck, so did the panic.

Groggy, I opened my eyes slowly, but when I glanced around and didn't see the three of them I quickly – albeit clumsily – rolled out of bed and stood alert. "Where are they?" I demanded. Cassie moaned and turned away from me.

"Cassie, they're not back," I hissed. She yawned and stretched her arms over her head. Her eyes fluttered open and she turned back to me once again.

"What do you mean?" she asked slowly.

"They never came back last night."

She sat up in her bed and her neck snapped around the room. Nobody. Just her and I. Ax was in his Andalite form, hidden in the bathroom.

"No," she breathed. "Do you think they spent the night at Raúl's?"

"They know better," I insisted. "They know not to trust those guys that much, not to be asleep around them. That would make them too vulnerable. Marco wouldn't..." Something wasn't right; I could feel it in my stomach. I didn't know what had happened, but it wasn't good. "You don't think... they're... dead?"

Cassie shook her head quickly. "No, let's not jump to conclusions."

"...Or infested...?" I was going to be sick. We were in trouble now. They knew how to get to this hotel, and that meant the Yeerks probably knew by now, too.

"Jake, we'd be goners already."

"We have to get out of here," I replied. "Just in case. We don't know what happened." I walked to the bathroom and pounded on the door. "Ax, human morph. Hurry up."

I waited a minute, then he opened the door in his human morph. "What is going on, Prince Jake?"

"They're not back yet," I answered. "We're leaving."

He looked confused, but he didn't say anything back. I went into the room and looked around for belongings, promptly realizing that we'd brought none along. I nodded to Cassie and she stood up, and the three of us left the room just like that – but I swiped the 2 of the 3 card keys for the hotel room first.

Marco had the other one.

MARCO

I didn't sleep well that night. It took me hours to actually fall asleep on the cold, hard floor. When I finally did sleep, it was only vivid images mixed of horrible memories and dreaded fantasies... everything horrible I'd ever experienced during the war. All the injuries, all the close-calls, from times long back to recent times. Tobias getting trapped as a hawk, Ax crash-landing on earth, David almost annihilating all of us with his psychopathic ways, Cassie getting sick, almost blowing it for us at a school dance one time. Jake... just Jake, his face, too worn and too old for it to really be his. My arm disintegrating, gone. The sting just as real now as it ever was.

And how the past three times I'd seen my mother, I planned on killing her. And the past three times, I was unable. What had gone wrong? The plan... or me?

I woke up tossing around violently. In fact, I woke up when I was in mid-toss, and slammed my elbow against one of the cell's bars. I had propped myself up and was leaning in the corner, where the cement wall met the cell bars that separated mine from the next empty one. I liked this corner because I had a good view of the door that they always came from.

But now I didn't like it, because my elbow hit the bar just right and it was messing with my funny bone.

I realized my breathing was way too desperate. I could pretend to be distracted from my nightmare with my elbow, but my breathing gave it away. Yeah, I was more than a little shaken up.

Tobias, Ax, David, Cassie, Jake, me, my mom... David? What had made me think of him?

Where was Rachel?

I forgot about my elbow and my nightmare and stood up quickly, rushing to the other side of my cell. Tobias still out. That, or sleeping, but in either case he hadn't changed positions since I last saw him. But Rachel's cell on the other side, it was empty.

"Rachel," I whispered. "Tobias is out, and I could really use someone who has my back."

Sam's words "I will break you... you will break... suffer a pathetic fate..."

I don't know why I tried to morph again, but I guess I had some shred of hope that whatever machine it was that generated this shock was turned off for the night. No dice, but it was worth a try.

I couldn't shake the urgency, but there didn't seem like I could do anything about it. Too much was wrong... Rachel was gone, I couldn't make the decision I was destined to make, Tobias was out way longer than Rachel and I were, and after almost a year of forgetting, memories of David came back to me. It was weird. Nothing was right, but there was nothing I could do about any of it. A victim, left to contemplate what I'd lost.

"Tobias, you've gotta wake up," I told him. I knew he couldn't hear me, but it still made me feel better to talk to someone familiar. The only person I could trust right now. "Why aren't you up yet? Hurry up."

Eventually my legs got tired and I sat back down in my corner, where I wallowed in my self-pity, brooded in my frustration, and sunk in my helplessness. I don't know how long it lasted, but sleep didn't come, and eventually things lightened up. I didn't see windows anywhere, but they were probably around the hallway, or up the stairs, or somewhere I couldn't see. No matter where they were, I was fairly certain it was beginning to get lighter outside.

Manny came down the stairs. My first time seeing him since I'd been unconscious.

In movies, the people who handle the prisoners always bring food on some kind of tray. Not in real life. Manny was holding a paper bag with the golden McDonald's M on it. Of course Sam would serve a McD's breakfast. He did, after all, have a sense of humor.

The way I looked at Manny made him uncomfortable, and he slowed his walking as he approached me. "I'm sorry," he said. He had a genuine accent. I could tell.

"Why are you doing this?" I demanded. He was three feet away from the cell now. He bent forward and set the bag just outside the cell. I could reach through the bars and grab it.

"I have to," he answered simply. "This is the way it works."

"How does it work?" I used my "you're an idiot and have no excuse for this" voice.

"Those at the top order those at the bottom. No military group is functional without that important aspect."

"He brainwashed you," I stated bluntly. "Amazing. You seemed so smart. And, heck, _friendly._ Incorruptible."

"Corrupt doesn't exist," he replied. "Just different sides, but we are all fighting the same war."

He turned and started walking away. I shouted after him, but he didn't turn. Didn't flinch.


	4. Rachel

A/N: Sorry it's been awhile... honestly, I forgot this fic existed until I got a reminder. I just have a couple things to say.

SouthrnBelle – thank you so much for all your encouragement. I've been trying to update these stories (by "these" I mean IYR 1 and 2) every week, but as you can see, I dropped the ball... life has been crazy!

nunya – I'm sorry if you feel like I'm throwing information out there that's not relevant to the plot, but it is. Things I wanted you to pick up on in the last couple chapters are Manny's brainwashing, mention of David, Rachel being gone, Tobias being unconscious, and the fact that Marco has a keycard to the hotel room. Also Sam's obvious foreshadowing, "I will break you." These will all come into play; some you will see in this chapter already.

The main point I want to raise in this fic is the question of right vs. wrong. A right side and a wrong side in the war, but also, Marco's right vs. wrong conflict of what to do with his mother.

_**General Warning:**_ I will have some ahem "adult content" in this chapter, and I don't know how old all of you are. This is why I rated it T. I promise that I will never have _unnecessary_ sexual content, and when there is sexual content it will be as discreet as possible. I am not one of those psycho porno writers. But I thought this would be a nice addition to the fic, especially to deepen several characters and raise tension.

MARCO

I'd gone back to sleep after my breakfast, to more nightmares and haunting questions. Mostly, I was worried about Rachel. I had no idea where she could be, or why Sam would take her out of her cell and not me. Didn't he want me? He wanted to know my secret. He knew I had one. Maybe he knew it had to do with Visser One.

No, he couldn't have. If he knew it had to do with Visser One, he would have already figured we were related. Closely. Like a mother and a son.

Mother and son.

I didn't remember my nightmare when I woke up, but my heart was pounding and I felt very uneasy. I knew it had been a twisted dream, one of those dreams that doesn't make any sense at all, and it somehow incorporated two versions of my mom – good and evil – and Rachel. It offered some bizarre reason why she was gone. Some bizarre, horrible, haunting reason. And I had no idea the truth was worse.

When I woke up, she was back. I could see her in her cell, her knees pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around her bent legs and rocking back and forth. Her head was down, but her long blonde hair swayed against her body. It was wet. Greasy. I glanced to the cell between us. Tobias still out.

"Rachel," I said quietly. "Where were you?"

She looked up at me and slowed her rocking, but did not stop. It was like looking at a mental ward patient.

"Marco..." she said softly. She was scared. "He... he..."

Then I noticed. The blood.

There wasn't a lot, but right where her legs met I could see that it had soaked through her lightly-colored blue jeans. Had the blood been anywhere else I would assume a knife, and many questions would follow: where did he cut you, how many times, was it a form of torture, was he asking questions, how long did it last, how big was the knife, how deep were the cuts? But the blood right there, I knew there was no knife. But it was a form of torture.

"No," I whispered. "He didn't."

Rachel wasn't broken. Rachel doesn't break. I knew with one look into her eyes that she'd remained strong, she didn't say anything and she still wouldn't. She wasn't brainwashed like Manny; she was the same Rachel. But it's also true that for many women, rape is the worst fate they could suffer, and she was surely suffering.

She started crying. "What's his problem?!" she demanded through her sobs. There was a lot of despair, but still some anger. Yes, she was the old Rachel. She had to be. _Don't give up on me now,_ I silently willed. _We have to get out of here._ "You know, I... I wanted my first time to..."

She didn't have to finish. Tobias was unconscious, but she looked at him. I knew what she meant, but it had never been right with him. I understood why her and Tobias hadn't done anything like that before. We were in a war. They knew it just wouldn't be right. They had been waiting for it all to be over, then they could get married and share a special moment on their wedding night. I knew that had been the plan, because that was the plan with Jake and Cassie.

"Rachel, we _have_ to kill him," I said. "Don't lose it on me."

She bit her bottom lip hard. A little bit of blood started to emerge from it and I looked down at the floor of my cell. I couldn't look at the blood.

I've seen a lot of blood before, but this was so different. This stood for so much more.

"I'm no good at this kind of stuff," I said quietly. One thing I knew: be gentle. "I wish I could tell you something to make it better, but I just don't know. I'm really sorry. But you know what we have to do."

She nodded and sniffed. "I know. But... I want to kill him."

"You can," I promised.

"He said... it would happen again."

"It won't."

"We have to get out of here."

I was grateful for those words. They showed she agreed with me. She understood the importance of leaving. The only problem was that I had no idea how. And if Sam was smart – and he was – he was probably monitoring our conversation and would know how we planned on getting out. If Tobias were up he could privately thought-speak to us and tell us a plan, but he wasn't. He wouldn't move.

"He's going to do something to you," she said softly, staring at the floor in front of her. She wouldn't look up.

"What's he going to do?" I asked.

"I don't know, but something terrible."

"I've been through a lot of terrible things," I replied. "And he's not going to win this one. Jake's looking for us, okay? And you know he won't give up. They'll find us. We just have to ride this out."

She sniffed. "I don't know if I can. I'll try. God, I'll try." She closed her eyes, but kept hugging her knees close to her body. She paused for a moment, then opened her eyes and looked through Tobias's cell, right at me. "I bet you think less of me, seeing me like this," she said.

"No, I don't. I can't imagine how hard that would be."

She nodded. She didn't believe me. "Well, I'm still me. And I won't break. He hurt me... a lot... but you know, he won't get away with it."

"Cute."

His voice.

Sam bounced down the stairs. I use the word "bounce" very literally – the spring in his step was enough to make me think of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. And it made me sick.

"You look very pleased with yourself," I sneered. "What kind of sick-"

"I know how to make a woman submit to me." He looked at Rachel. She looked away. A disgusting contrast from yesterday. Yesterday she got up in his face, spit at him, yelled, hatred in her eyes and voice. Now she didn't dare.

"She's not going to be another Manny for you," I said. "You pissed her off, but you won't get away with it."

Sam laughed. "I have no intention of using her as part of my army. I have no intention of using any of you. You're freaks of nature, and you're here for entertainment. But I'd never be able to trust any of you."

I didn't know how to reply. He was right; he would never be able to trust us.

After a moment of silence, he came closer to my cell. "Don't worry, Marco. I'm straight. You have a different fate."

"There's nothing you could do that-"

"I promise it's just as bad."

I glared at him. "What are you hoping to accomplish? You want me to talk?"

He shrugged casually. "Nah. You can, but it won't help. I told you, I just don't share very well. Nobody's getting my visser."

I didn't even think before I spoke next. "Fine, take the visser. Do whatever you want with her. Use her as a sex slave, anything to the Yeerk, the host... just let us go home."

Rachel's head perked up quickly. She stared at me. Had I said that? I was suddenly very ashamed of my own words.

Sam laughed. "See, it's already working."

"Is she still alive?"

Sam tilted his head, like he was trying to figure something out. Finally, he said, "Yes, she's alive. Not in very good shape, though." He looked over at Tobias. "Still out?"

"Yeah, he hasn't woken up yet," I replied.

"Interesting." He looked back to me. "Well, pray it stays that way, because once he wakes up, it's your turn." Then he looked at Rachel. "And I'll see you later."

Her head went down into her knees again.

Sam started to walk away, but then he paused and spun around on his heel. "Oh, and Marco? While you were out, I had you searched." He dug into his pockets and then pulled out a plastic card. "We found this. I'll be searching the hotel personally."

A sinking feeling in my stomach. No, not the others. He couldn't find them. Couldn't bring them here.

"You'll never find them." I faked confidence. Sam saw through it.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Jake knows you're after him."

"Jake? Are you kidding me? _You_ didn't even know."


	5. Momo

MOMO

"Where's Beto and Pepe?" he demanded of me. I set down a Spanish fashion magazine – unreadable, but I had fun looking at the pictures – and looked up at Raúl. He was furious.

"I don't know," I answered, looking at my watch. It was 11:30. "They might have gone to get something to eat."

"Who told them they could?"

I shrugged. "Manny, maybe."

I could tell Raúl wanted to say something to argue, but he held it back. Him and Manny had been acting so strange around each other, and when they talked about each other. I knew Manny had more authority than Raúl, but Raúl seemed to believe he was running everything. Which was not only confusing, but frustrating, especially when not everyone answered to the person they should.

"They might be around," I put in, trying to calm him.

"Manny is watching the Americans?"

"Yes."

Raúl grabbed my upper arm and yanked me up from my chair at the table. His grip was so hard that it hurt, and I tried to shake him off but he only squeezed more. "You're coming to help."

"Help what?"

He sighed and looked around, like I was his absolute last resort and he was hoping someone more helpful would come by. "I wanted to search the hotel, but you won't be able to find your way around... so you'll search the hotel, and I'll be downtown."

"Okay," I muttered.

Raúl scribbled a note in Spanish and set a knife on top of it. I tried to read it, but I didn't know much Spanish. It said

Beto y Pepe,

Limpien la cama y encuentren a Manny. Momo y yo estamos buscando a los otros Americanos.

-Raúl

"Let's go," he ordered.

I stared hard at the note, trying to understand. I knew that he wasn't telling me something. The only words I recognized were, of course, our names, and "cama." Cama meant bed. I don't know how or why I knew, but I did.

"What's wrong with the beds?" I asked him. He sighed and grabbed my arm again, at the same place he'd grabbed before. It was much more sensitive now, and I knew there would be a bruise. I tried to shake him off, but once again he only tightened his hold on me.

"Nothing, I just told them to make them."

I didn't believe for a second that a few unmade beds bothered Raúl, much less that he wanted Beto and Pepe to be our maids. "You told them to make the beds?"

He gritted his teeth and drew closer to me. When I tried to move my body away, he grabbed my other arm and twisted me to face him. His eyes were bloodshot, and while Raúl was originally a good-looking boy, he didn't look very good right now. He was tired, and worried. His face shiny from sweat, forehead lines showing.

"Yes, I told them to make the beds," he said firmly. It was too firm, and that made it obvious he was lying.

"What happened?" I asked.

"They were slept in."

He threw me towards the door and then reached for his light leather jacket. I rubbed my arms and tried to catch my breath. This was my first time meeting Raúl, and apparently I was the only one who hadn't met him before. Manny used to play it off like he'd never met Raúl, but I could read Manny. We'd been friends for so long, and even romantically involved a couple years back. When it didn't work out, we remained very close friends. I would even consider him more than a friend... yet tragically less than a boyfriend. I wished it wasn't that way.

Right then, all I wanted was Manny by my side. I wanted him to help me defend myself against Raúl's physical abuse. But then, I reminded myself that Manny might not have been capable. Physically, yes... it was hard to guess who would win in a fair fight, Raúl or Manny. Manny was taller than Raúl, but Raúl was quite muscular. Physically, it'd be a close fight. But mentally, Raúl already had Manny beat. I could see it in their eyes. Manny was supposed to be running everything, but when the two were together, Raúl always took the floor. Even if he let Manny do the talking, he was still in charge.

It scared me. It scared me not only that Raúl acted this way, but that Manny never stood up to him. What was going on between those two? Why wouldn't Manny put him in his place? Manny was the head leader of the entire International Resistance, and Raúl? Raúl was the decoding specialist for the Spanish team. Him and I had the same rank; I decoded for the Germans. What made him think that he could order me around? And why did Manny let him?

"Don't look like that," he muttered as we exited the building. He pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth as he reached for a lighter in his jacket pocket. We started walking downtown.

"Like what?" I replied.

"You look scared." He lit it, took a drag, and exhaled. "Don't be."

Was he being nice?

"I... uh-"

"The Americans don't have any power right now. I know they can morph, but don't let that scare you. We have the brains and the brawn, and we're running this shit."

My English vocabulary was lacking at the moment. "We what?"

"We're in charge."

I stared at his face, trying to read something more. Why was he comforting me now? It just didn't make sense. I studied his profile. Was he still tired? Yes, still tired, but mustering the strength to go on. He had the look of a weary college student who knew they had to go to class, really didn't want to, but did out of a sense of duty. Raúl wanted a break. He at least wanted a nap. But we were running out after the other Americans, because this was important. Why?

"When you say 'we...'" I began. I had the feeling he was only talking about himself.

He turned to me and gave me a winning smile. Now he was attractive. Now that he was willing accept the fact that he had to get done what had to be done, now that we were outside in the sunlight, now that his rage had subsided... yes, he was cute.

"What do you want to hear? You and me, me the king and you my queen?"

"It just seems like there's not a lot of a team thing going on," I said quietly. I looked down at the sidewalk, not liking his flirty glances at me. It just wasn't right. How could he bruise me one minute, and do that to my heart the next? Raúl was too charming for anyone else's own good.

"I would sell most people on this team for a decent burger," he admitted, "But I like you. Manny, too. He's a good man. Nothing's going to happen to either of you."

"What about the Americans?"

He laughed. "The Americans? You don't really trust them, do you?"

I shrugged. "They seem nice."

The smile was gone now. He took a nice, long drag on his cigarette and exhaled longer than I expected. "I know. The bad guys always do."

"Bad guys?"

"There's a lot the Americans aren't telling you," he said. This was curious. I hadn't known them long, but they all seemed very genuine to me. Sure, they wanted to hide some things, but that was only because they weren't sure they could trust us, and that was understandable. Wasn't it?

"Like what?" I asked.

"The more I tell you, the more danger you're in," he said seriously. We came to an intersection and stopped walking as the cars passed by. "But I'm sure that sounds like a cop-out, huh?"

"A what?" His English was so much better than mine, and his Spanish accent also made it difficult to understand. My English was good, but I normally spoke it with fellow Germans who knew English, so we all pronounced words the same way. The Spaniards said things differently, and Raúl had a larger vocabulary.

He took the cigarette out of his mouth and pursed his lips like he was frustrated. Then, he said, "I think I should tell you something so you know I'm not lying about them being spies. But, I can't tell you everything, because it's not safe for you to know."

I nodded. "Tell me something. Anything."

The light changed and he stepped off the sidewalk into the street. I followed.

"They're not controllers, as I'm sure you know," he began. "It's obvious."

I nodded again. I didn't think it was as obvious as he made it seem, but I was fairly certain he was right, so I granted him the point. "Sure."

"But they have been recruited by the Yeerks," he added. "When the Yeerks found out we'd be on Visser One's tail for this trip, they recruited the Americans to throw us off-guard. They knew we would rather team up with them than kill her. They offered them a bribe, and here they are, insisting we let her live. Or at least postpone her death until they can break her out."

"Why didn't they just infest them?" I asked.

"They probably knew we would tail them for three days. Brainwashing is just as useful as infestation, you know." He turned and looked at me, and I knew he was studying my reaction. The truth was, I couldn't believe what he was saying. I'd always thought I was good at figuring people out, and the things he was saying just seemed so off from what I'd figured.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

He nodded. "Of course I'm sure. You think I would operate on something I wasn't sure of?"

I didn't know how to respond. Yeah, he had to be sure. I knew one thing: Raúl was very smart. So he wouldn't be making these kinds of moves unless he had a very good reason. I knew that much. He had to be telling the truth. And I also knew that in this war, information was extremely dangerous. So it made sense that he didn't want to give me his sources. If he did, and I were infested, the Yeerks would cut off that source. It was too important for him to tell me.

"I guess... you're right," I conceded. He nodded and patted me on the back. I flinched at his touch, just out of habit, but it didn't hurt like it normally did. No, he was being friendly. He must have just been testy before. It was clear that he was extremely tired when we'd had that confrontation in the kitchen, but the fresh air – and probably the cigarette – was doing him good, and he was fine now. Nothing to fear. He was right; Manny and I were going to be protected and get through this mission just fine.

"Good girl," he told me. He handed me the keycard to a hotel room. "I need you to slip this into all the doors in that hotel. When you get a green light, memorize the door number, and go back to the building. Can you do that?"

I nodded. "Sure."

"Don't open the door. We only have to know what room they're in. If you open it and they're in there, they might overpower you, or at least ask uncomfortable questions. Just get a green light and leave. Don't let them see you. Understand?"

"I understand, Raúl."

He smiled at me. "Thanks so much for your help, Momo. I appreciate it." He pointed across the street. "That's their hotel. I know you'll do just fine."

I stared at him as he spoke. Hard to believe this was the same man who scared me so much not long ago. He gave me a single pat on my arm – right over my forming bruise – and casually walked away.

A/N: If you have any questions about who knows what, or what who thinks, let me know! I know it's getting a little confusing, but this will all come together eventually...

Also, if you're reading, please review! Tell me what you like and what you don't like. Ask questions, say whatever! When I get reviews, I use them as fuel to write another chapter. It's a lot easier for me to write when I know people are excited about it, and harder for me to motivate myself if I think I'm only doing it for one or two people. So review (please)!


	6. The House

JAKE

Everyone knows I've always been a leader. Not always _the_ leader, but at least _a_ leader. It really has nothing to do with Animorphs or Yeerks or war, it's just my personality. I usually feel best when I'm making decisions and forming plans. I'm good at looking for loopholes and where something might go wrong. And people tend to listen to me, not in a bossy kind of way, but I think they'd just rather listen than try to take the responsibility if something goes wrong. But I thrive under responsibility.

That's why wandering around Madrid aimlessly was bothering me so much. There was no plan. I knew that Cassie and Ax didn't mind the fact that I didn't have a plan, because neither one of them could think of anything better to do. As their leader, not having a plan didn't bother me, because I knew we were in it together and they weren't blaming me for not being brilliant. But as Jake, the guy who likes to have a plan, it bothered me quite a bit.

I had to know what was going on, and I had to know how to fix it. What would Marco say... point A to point B? So right now we were at point A, which was having no clue what had become of the others. We needed to get to point B, a point where we would find them. But how were we supposed to get there?

"Marco said the visser was at some place called Casa de something," I stated. I don't know what it was supposed to mean, but it was the only thing I could think to say pertaining to the situation.

"Post-something," Cassie put in. "Because it reminded me of a post office."

"Do you think it _was_ a post office?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, but that might be too big of an assumption. It was just some place called Casa de Post-something."

I looked around the area. It was impossible to find anything in this crazy city. Not only was it the largest city I'd ever been to, at five and a half million people running around, but it was also impossible to navigate through... much more impossible than most large American cities like NYC or LA.

"Can you get us directions?" I asked her. Cassie bit her lip and hesitated. She'd taken two years of Spanish, but classroom experience wasn't worth much. I knew that.

"I can ask where it is, but I probably won't be able to understand the answer," she said.

But this was an almost-plan, so I had to stick with it. It was better than the no-plan I'd had five seconds ago.

"Try to get them to point," I replied.

Cassie reached out and touched a businessman's shoulder. He looked incredibly annoyed, but he gave her his attention, anyways.

"Perdón," she began. "Um... ¿dónde está la Casa de Post... post-"

"¿La Casa de Postas?" he replied.

"Sí, sí."

The man pointed and said something long-winded. Cassie frowned, tilted her head, and pointed in the same direction. "¿Allí?"

The man nodded. He knew she wasn't a native.

"Gracias," Cassie said. He nodded and rushed away. Maybe we made him late for some important meeting. Or maybe he just wasn't very friendly.

Cassie looked at me and shrugged. "You heard the man," she stated, pointing. "That-a-way."

I was running things over in my head as we walked. What would we do? We had to morph; that was a sure thing. We couldn't just walk in there. I didn't want to do battle morphs and make a scene, especially when we were only at half strength. That only left one more option: we had to be small and unnoticed. An insect morph. But wait, what were we hoping to accomplish? We would morph insects, go in there, and... what?

_I wish Marco were here,_ I thought. _He would have an idea._

"Guys..." I said quietly as we walked in the general direction of the place. "I don't know... what we're hoping to accomplish."

"Right now we are tracking," Ax said. I was surprised to hear him speak up, because Ax always makes sure he's never involved in decision-making. But I suppose he saw how distraught I was over this. "So we will be searching for clues, or anything to lead us back to them. Correct?"

I nodded. "Yeah, you're right. That's true. Clues..." What kind of clues?

Cassie's arm shot up and she started waving frantically. "Jake! It's Raúl!"

I looked over where she was looking and saw, sure enough, Raúl wandering the streets himself. Unbelievable that in a city this big, we would be so close to each other, and that Cassie would even see him. Luck.

He didn't see us, but she called across the large street, over the car noise and the chatter. "Raúl! Hey! Raúl!"

"Hey!" I yelled to him. He couldn't hear us.

I glanced up and down the street. There was a car coming this way, but it was far enough away that we could get into the street, and if it slowed down like I was counting on, we would make it across. I darted into the street, and Cassie and Ax followed. We could _not_ lose Raúl. He would know something. Maybe he didn't know where the others were if they were captured by the Yeerks, but he would at least know _something_ about what had happened last night.

We pushed through a dozen or so people and I tapped him on the back. He turned around quickly, like he expected an enemy. When he saw me he sighed and smiled.

"Jake, I was looking for you," he said. I nodded.

"We were looking for you, too. What happened to the others? Were they captured?"

Raúl looked down at the sidewalk. "Marco and Rachel..." He shook his head and my heart stopped for a second. My best friend and my cousin, where were they? Where they injured? Dead?

"What?" I demanded. He was still shaking his head.

"I don't know what the Yeerks did to them, but I was held there, too." When he looked back up at me, I knew he was telling the truth. His eyes were bloodshot; he hadn't been sleeping much. He hadn't showered in a couple days. It was obvious from his hair. And his face itself... tired and weary.

"I saw them," he went on. "Right before I escaped, I found them. They've both gone crazy."

"Crazy?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

"They just lost it. They don't function anymore. They wouldn't come with me, either. I would have taken them by force, but I... I just wasn't strong enough. I'm sorry, Jake."

"Where are they?"

Raúl looked side to side around the sidewalk. "They're still being held."

"Where?"

"I don't know!" He grabbed my by the shoulders, one in each of his hands. "Jake, you've got to believe me... I wish I knew, but I was a little crazy myself, it was dark and I was tired and I... I'm lucky to be alive." He swallowed. It must have been hard to relive last night. "I got out, I found my way back, but I was barely conscious at the time. I wandered throughout the night and somehow ended up at our hotel. The others found me. I wish I knew where I came from, and I've gone over it in my mind so many times, but I just don't know."

I nodded. "It's okay, Raúl." When he dropped his hands, I patted him on the shoulder. "Really. I understand. We'll find them."

"I hope so," he replied. "I really do. It was horrible in there."

"Did you see Tobias?"

"Who?"

"A hawk, did you see a hawk?"

Raúl shook his head. "No, I never saw a hawk. They might have killed him."

Cassie made a noise of surprise from behind me. I didn't turn to look at her; I didn't figure I could. Cassie in tears had the tendency to make me lose it, and I couldn't afford that right now.

"He might still be out here," I replied.

"Not likely, if he didn't go back to your hotel last night."

He was right.

Suddenly, it hit me. Until now I hadn't actually believed any of us would die in this war. It sounds silly, thinking we can't die. But honestly, when you've had as many missions and close calls as I've had without a single casualty, you start to think – only subconsciously – that maybe you and your team are immortal. But if Tobias wasn't with us, Raúl, or Marco and Rachel (and, therefore, the Yeerks), where in the world was he?

"Tobias... is dead?" I asked slowly. Raúl looked back to the ground and shook his head again.

"I'm really sorry, hombre, but I don't know where he could be."

Raúl led us around Madrid for awhile while we talked. He didn't say anything that was worth anything to me, honestly. We just talked about the workings of the war, fighting in general, losing in general. Raúl had lost his best friend in this war, he told me. It would always be hard to think of people we're close to who are gone now, but in honoring the memory of them, they're still with us.

He'd texted someone off and on during the conversation, which I found slightly rude, but I didn't want to say anything because I didn't know if it was important or not. But each time he sent and received a message, he showed no emotion. He kept on talking as though nothing were going on. It was probably none of my business.

Eventually we reached a building that might have been a large house, or a small office building. He pulled out a large ring of keys and easily found the first one to use on the door. There were two deadbolts, and the doorknob also had to have a key in it to open. He used three different keys.

"A lot of security," I noted.

"You can never be too careful," Raúl replied as he opened the door wider for us all to enter.

It was a normal-looking house from the inside. Once we entered through the door we were in an entryway, with a kitchen to the left and a carpeted living room to the right. Stairs that led upstairs, and in the kitchen there was an open door that held stairs that led downstairs.

Raúl took off his shoes, so the rest of us followed suit. He motioned to the upstairs.

"Would you like to rest?" he asked us. "I know it must be hard to sleep at a time like this, but there is nothing you can do right now. I think whatever we do will require a good night's sleep."

I didn't want to sleep, but had to admit I wanted to. I turned to face Cassie, who looked... desperate. I could tell she wanted a nap, even if she wouldn't admit it. In contrast, Ax's face gave nothing away.

"Tempting," I replied. "I think we'll take you up on that offer."

He smiled and led us up the stairs. The house seemed new... the carpet was far softer than I expected it to be, and everything was very clean. He had two rooms ready for us. When we got up the stairs, I looked at him and was reminded of how tired he looked. Wasn't he going to sleep?

"You look like you could use some rest," I said. He nodded.

"I could, and I might, but I have a little business to take care of first. I had Momo out searching for you, and I'll have to find her now."

"In a city this large?" I asked.

"I gave her a specific area; it shouldn't be hard to find." He looked to Ax. "Feel free to demorph so you don't need to watch the time. I can assure you you're safe here."

Ax stared at him for a few seconds, trying to decide how trustworthy Raúl was. Then he said in thoughtspeak, I suppose, even if we cannot trust him, I will be of more use in Andalite form than human form. I didn't reply. I couldn't.

Ax started to demorph, but Raúl didn't show us into the bedrooms until he was done. But he didn't watch in a gaping sense. He watched as though he wanted to make sure Ax didn't change back into a human again.

He let Ax and I have one room, and gave another to Cassie. He said he would have let us all share one room, but one room wasn't big enough to hold several beds, and we wouldn't all be comfortable on one bed. I didn't like the idea of being separated from Cassie after losing the other three, but I knew I was just being silly. We were safe here.

A/N:

Thanks for all the reviews! I was really happy. :-) I will try to return the favor with a quick update for next chapter.

SouthrnBelle – yes, Manny has known all along that Raúl is Sam. If you go back to that chapter you referenced (chapter 14, Secret) I tried to emphasize the tension going on between Manny and Sam. The reason that tension exists is because, while Sam is the "real" leader, he must pretend to submit to Manny in order to keep the rest of the team thinking Manny is really in control. That's why Sam was somewhat defiant towards Manny, but submitted in the end (he doesn't like taking orders, but had to keep the charade going.) Manny said what he did to keep up appearances, but he knew Sam wouldn't take him seriously.

Hullabahoos – the note said to CLEAN the bed, not MAKE them. He was talking about cleaning the bed that he'd used to rape Rachel, but told Momo it said to make the beds so she wouldn't know what had happened. I think from now on, when there is a chunk of a foreign language like that (other than what was in this chapter, like sí and gracias) I'll put what it means in italics. :-)


	7. New Plan

DAVID

When I saw Tobias laying there, I felt my rat brain want to jolt back in surprise and fear. But when you've been in a morph for a year or so straight, you get pretty good at controlling those things. Still, rats have a stronger will than, say, a wolf. A wolf is a hunter, and they are much more in control. The animals who jolt, whose movements are very erratic due to panicking, are the ones with stronger wills.

You'd think that a stronger animal such as a wolf would have a stronger will. It's weird to think of a hunter as "weak" in all senses of the word, and a rat as "strong." But that's how it works in the animal world, and that's why rats escape so easily. They have a strong will.

But my human brain knew that Tobias was still unconscious, so I approached him anyways... with less caution than my rat friend would have. I'd also like to mention, it's weird living with two sides to you. You're like a schizophrenic, who has it under some semblance of control. But still schizo.

I scurried up to Tobias and smelt around. I could still smell the chloroform they'd used to knock him out. I looked to my right. Marco was sitting, leaned up in the corner. I knew why he was sitting there. He could see everything. He could see the stairs where Sam or Manny would come down, and he could also see both Tobias and Rachel.

To my left, there she was. Rachel was also in a corner, but it was not strategically chosen like Marco's was. She was in no position to be strategic. Her knees were pulled up against her chest, and she was hugging them. Her greasy blonde hair shaded her face.

I looked back at Marco. I couldn't see well – rats can't – but he looked pensive. He was trying to think of a way out, but he knew he couldn't morph. Or maybe he was just thinking about how to keep his sanity with almost no human contact down here. I wanted to taunt him. Wanted to send him some thought-speak, just mess with him a little. After what they'd put me through, they deserved it. But Sam would kill me.

He looked at me and sneered. "He's not dead, rat," Marco told me. "Leave him alone."

_You have no idea who you're talking to,_ I thought. But tempting as it was, I couldn't say anything. He spit at me and I ran. My job was done. On my way back to the stairs, I heard Marco chuckle. Maybe he figured I'd give the folks in the kitchen a scare, but I wouldn't. There was only one person in there, and he wasn't afraid of me.

((Tobias is still unconscious,)) I told Sam when I got to the top. ((Rachel is still insane, and Marco is... just as we expected.))

Sam closed the door so they couldn't hear him reply. "You idiot," he said to me. He sat down in a chair at the table, but I stayed where I was. "You forgot one important asset of theirs... the Andalite."

((Ax will follow Jake's orders,)) I replied. ((If you can control Jake, you can control Ax.))

"That's not what I meant. He can send out thought-speak to the others. To Marco and Rachel. They're far too close to each other now."

My little rat heart stopped for a moment. What would Sam do to me if I messed up his plan? I didn't want to imagine. ((I...))

"What are we going to do?"

((Where is he?))

"They're all asleep upstairs," Sam replied. "But this is the riskiest part of our plan. They're just too close to each other. If Marco yells, they'll hear him. If Ax broadcasts anything, they'll hear him. They're going to _know_ they're sitting right on top of each other. Literally."

I had to try to redeem my plan, but the only thoughts coming to me were statements such as "if you were such a genius, you would have picked these flaws out before we executed this plan." But I couldn't blame him; that would only make the situation worse. I had to assure him if I wanted to keep my head. ((If the Andalite's asleep, we still have a chance. We have to move the other three. At least Marco. Especially Marco.))

"Where would you suggest?" Sam demanded in anger. I got the feeling he didn't actually want me to answer. "With the visser? They'll kill each other."

((The Animorphs can't know where the visser is,)) I stated. ((But there isn't anywhere else we can take them?))

"Nowhere that's out of thought-speak range." Sam stood up and threw his chair against the table. It broke into several pieces, and I scampered around, trying not to get hit by the shrapnel. "This is all your fault," he seethed. Sam was a horrifying character at the moment. I knew he hadn't slept in over 30 hours, and he'd been both working and thinking very hard since then. He was feeling the pressure. For the first time, I was grateful to be a rat. As a human, I'd be a lot more afraid that he'd hit me or something. But who would punch a rat?

((You could knock them out again,)) I suggested.

"For how long? We're just prolonging something." He sighed and leaned against the counter. Then I heard footsteps, and Manny entered the kitchen.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Get out," Sam responded instantly. His words were filled with anger and frustration. He was more testy than he'd been in a long time. Manny ran out of the kitchen like it was on fire.

((Don't panic,)) I told Sam. ((That's the worst thing you can do. We have to think about this.))

"Think? We don't have time to think! They're going to find each other, break out, and kill us."

_Kill you, maybe,_ I thought. _They don't know I still exist. Even if they did, I could probably escape._

Sam started towards the door that led downstairs. "I'm going to kill them," he said. "It's sooner than I planned, but if I don't do it now, everything's going to blow up."

((They'll hear the gunshots,)) I said quickly. ((You can't do it yet. You have to get Jake and the others into cells first.))

He stopped walking, resting his hand on the doorknob. He knew I was right. "Yeah... yeah, that's true. And they can morph right now. Even if they couldn't, I can't take on an Andalite."

((Once they find out what we're doing, Ax will be our biggest problem.))

"So he should be the first to go," Sam finished.

((Exactly.))

"But I can't kill him now, or else Jake and Cassie will morph," he added.

((Right. You have to get them into cells first. It's the only way.))

"This will be... a little trickier than it was with the others," Sam stated. He was thinking. Processing a new plan. "But I think I have an idea. It will be risky, but at this point, we have no safe way to play it."

((What are you going to do?))

"You'll see," he replied. "This is my war, remember?"

His war. He'd said it before. Sam had some crazy notion in his head that he was the only person who cared about killing Yeerks. He was wrong. True, I'd never exactly been a warrior in the war. My history was more with Jake and the others than with Yeerks. But still, when I understood what they were doing, I _did_ want to help. I _do_ want to help.

As far as the Animorphs go, they might have taken my life away, but they fought Yeerks just like Sam. He had no monopoly on this. But my beef with the Animorphs was somehow related to my beef with the Yeerks. It was hard for me to separate the two. Yes, I was still alive, but who could call this a life? Who could call living as a small schizophrenic rodent a life? That's how it was to be a controller. They were still technically alive, but it would be silly to call whatever they had a "life." They were not living, they were just simply being.

That's what I was doing. That's what I had been doing for a long time. But the reason I put up with Sam's maniac brain was because he gave me a reason to go on. My reason for living was the same as his.

Revenge.

A/N: I forgot that the thoughspeak symbols don't work for last chapter. Sorry! Hope it wasn't too confusing. As promised, here is your quick update. Hopefully the next one will be up in a week, maybe sooner, but I'm not making promises this time. I don't like to make promises I can't keep.

As for questions:

BeautifullyBroken – I actually wasn't planning on revealing this since it's not very important, so I figured I'll just tell you since it's not likely to be revealed later. Raúl/Sam was texting Manny, making sure he wasn't around at the house when Jake and the others got there. If he were, they would have to go back to Sam pretending to submit to whatever Manny said, and at this point, Sam's pretty much done with submitting.

SouthrnBelle – Haha, you're totally overanalyzing the Tobias thing. :p He's still out because he's a lot smaller than Rachel and Marco, so it affected him more. That's all. :-)


	8. Pleasure Derived from Torture

CASSIE

I couldn't sleep. Call it a gift.

Call it a gift that I sense things no one else can. A gift that something about Raúl didn't seem right. This room wasn't right. This house wasn't right.

The problem with these kinds of senses is that you never know anything more than "not right." You don't know what the problem is, or how to fix it. I just felt like there was something here, something important I was missing. Raúl knew what it was. He was either keeping it from us with no intent of letting us know, or he just didn't want to burden us right now since he wanted us to sleep. But either way, he knew something we didn't. I just couldn't shake the feeling.

I was laying in that bed for an hour and sleep never came. Downstairs I heard a crash, something made of wood breaking apart. It startled me, and then a few minutes later I heard someone walking in the hallway. They entered Jake and Ax's room. Finally, I decided that was the last straw. Something was going on, and I wouldn't be able to sleep until I knew what it was.

I closed my eyes and took in a few deep breaths. Yeah, I was tired, and nervous about what I would find. Raúl said Tobias was dead. Marco and Rachel might as well be. Jake, Ax, and I were the only three left, in a foreign country, with little to no direction on where to go. This mission was the worst one we'd been on yet, and it was too much.

_Breathe, Cassie. Calm._

I wanted to morph something calm, like the wolf, but that would be far too conspicuous. Fly.

The door had been left cracked open, and it was no problem to fly through. The annoying thing about the fly was that nobody could make sense of anything they saw. Yeah, we could see, but not in the normal sense. It definitely took getting used to. It was like watching a TV whose screen was broken into a hundred fragments.

But finding my way back to the kitchen wasn't hard, because I could smell it. Raúl was there, but he was furious. I think he said something, but I flew by too fast to know what. I was headed towards the door that led downstairs. There was something down there.

I landed on the soft carpet, the giant fibers coming up at me and surrounding me once I touched down. Flies don't like to be on their feet; they much prefer to fly. They walk slowly and clumsily, and that's why they use their wings most often. But landing was necessary to crawl underneath the closed door.

Tried to fly down the stairs.

All of a sudden, it was like I hit a wall of electricity. Once I passed a certain point down the stairs a shock ran through my little fly body. I fell onto the stair below me, just out of the reach of the next shock.

What was this?

((Is anyone down here?))

"No way, Cassie?"

It was Marco!

((Marco! What in the... we thought you were captured!))

"I am. Where are you?"

((I'm a fly, on the stairs. I was coming down, but... there's something going on down here. I hit some kind of electric field.))

"A powerful shock?"

((Yeah.))

"I noticed it. It's safe to demorph, but they have cameras down here. So if you do something, it better be fast before they get here."

((What can I do? Do you know a way out?))

He paused for a few moments. "I don't know what's over in that hallway. Could be keys, who knows? Other than that, I don't know a way out. We're in cells down here."

I weighed my options. I could go back and get Jake and Ax, but that would take time. Besides, someone had been in their room. Marco said they had cameras, so they probably heard him talking to me. They probably already knew the place had been infiltrated.

Demorph.

It was hard to keep from tumbling down the stairs as I grew to my full size. When I was finally done, I looked and saw all three of them... Rachel, Tobias, and Marco lined up in cells. The stairs were carpeted, but the floor of the room was cold concrete. It was very much a prison.

The first things I noticed were that Rachel and Tobias both seemed to be asleep. The second thing was that Rachel had a little blood on her light blue jeans, around where her legs met. I couldn't stop the gasp, but didn't want to ask Marco. It was probably that time of month, but it was still alarming for me to see since I didn't expect it.

He stood up and ran to the bars of his cell. I met him there.

"Raúl told us you were captured by the Yeerks," I said. "How..."

"I have a long story to tell you, but we _have_ to get out of here before they check the cameras," he replied quickly. He pointed to a section of the room what wound around the corner so it wasn't visible from where we stood. "Go over there, see what you can find."

I sensed the urgency in his voice and followed his directions. Rounded the corner, and sure enough, keys on a hook. It was almost too easy.

I grabbed them and ran back to his cell, only to find there was no actual lock _on_ the cell door. "Where does the key go?" I demanded in frustration. My hands were both shaking. I was so afraid the Yeerks were going to bust through the door any second now. And I could take them on in my battle morph, but as Cassie the high school girl, I was defenseless against an army of Hork-Bajir and Taxxons.

"It's the 21st century, Cassie, get with it!" he spat. I would have been insulted if I wasn't so scared. "They only have locks on doors in medieval times. The key goes into a control panel. Look around, it should look like a computer, and it should be down here. Go back, go back!"

I ran back around the corner and saw something that looked like a computer mounted onto the wall. There was a part of it that jutted out – I can only compare it to a cash register drawer – with a hole for a key. I thrust the key in, but then I heard the door open.

"Press buttons!" Marco shouted to me. "Big, brightly-colored ones!"

"What's going on?" A German voice. Manny.

I pushed the biggest button there was and heard the metal doors clank open. Ran back around and saw Marco getting into Tobias's cell and gingerly picking him up. Rachel was awake and had a few moments of grogginess, yawning and rubbing her eyes. When she saw Marco out of his cell, she quickly got to her feet and ran out.

We rushed the door, but then Raúl appeared at the top of the stairs.

"What's this?" he demanded. I was surprised to hear a different voice coming from him now. His Spanish accent was gone, and it made him sound like a different person. I'd also never heard him sound so angry.

He walked down the stairs slowly, and we backed up and reached the cement floor. He stood a few steps above, towering over us.

"The anti-morph machine was a nice touch, but we're gonna go now," Marco stated. "Thanks for showing us the place."

Raúl lifted his shirt and took a pistol out of his pants. He had a second one that he left there. It clicked – either the safety was off or he cocked the gun, but I don't know the difference – and aimed it at Marco.

"Nobody's going anywhere," he replied. He looked at Rachel, who had tears in her eyes. "Rachel, get back in your cell," he ordered in a very authoritative voice. I expected her to reply with some smart remark, but to my absolute shock, she slowly backed into her cell.

Raúl chuckled. "See that? It's control you can't _buy._" He turned his head around and called back towards the stairs, "Backup in here!"

"You know you're going to die," Marco stated coolly. "By now, Jake knows what's going on. He heard the shouting down here."

"I have Jake and Ax neutralized," Raúl replied quickly, irritated.

"What's going on?" I demanded. Nothing made sense. Why were the three of them down here, and why didn't Raúl have an accent anymore? Why did he have a gun on us, and why did Rachel listen to him without a fuss?

Raúl chuckled. "You didn't tell her?" he asked Marco.

"There was no time," he replied through gritted teeth.

"Well, you can tell her while we wait for my people," Raúl responded. Marco smirked.

"I think you and I would seriously get along if you weren't a psychopath," he said.

"Do you know what a psychopath is, or are you just throwing the word around as a childish insult?" Raúl asked. He relaxed his gun a bit, but he still had it very much ready. "A psychopath is a person who is incapable of telling right from wrong. But a _sociopath_, they're the interesting ones. It's the term I prefer, if you would."

"I'd say telling right from wrong isn't your strong suit," Marco replied. Again, Raúl chuckled.

"Sociopath: one with a psychopathic personality, whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience."

"You have that, too, Merriam-Webster," Marco muttered. Raúl lifted his gun again.

"I'm self-diagnosed."

"Sounds like a safe assumption."

"Traits," Raúl went on. The door behind him opened and two of the Spaniards appeared at the top of the stairs behind him. He nodded and the Spanish boys rushed forward, one taking hold of Marco and the other grabbing me. Marco struggled a lot and was hard to contain, but the other guy got him as he was trying to keep Tobias from falling to the floor, which he did.

"Lack of a conscience," Raúl said. The Spaniard took both my hands behind my back and held them tightly. "Inability to love or be loved." He shot a fleeting glance at Rachel, then back to Marco and me. "Sadistic streaks. Inability to abide by rules. Pleasure derived from torture. Criminal versatility. Impulsivity. Callousness. Manipulativeness. Grandiose of self-worth. Superficial charm." He smiled – indeed, a charming smile.

"You memorize research on yourself?" Marco asked dryly. He was not as intimidated as I was. I think Marco just saw Raúl as some random crazy person, but I saw him as a crazy person with a gun.

"I have a realistic perception of myself," he replied casually. "I understand myself and my behaviors. Self-discovery is important, you know."

"So is therapy. We have electric chairs for people like you."

"Not en españa," Raúl replied. "I love this country."

"Where's Jake?"

Raúl looked at me and smirked. "Cassie knows where Jake is. He's right where she left him."

"In the bedroom upstairs," I whispered. Raúl nodded.

"What did you do to him?" Marco asked.

"Jake's going to be sleeping for awhile now."

My eyes stung with bitter tears. I was so stupid. I'd probably heard Raúl going into that room, and I should have done something. I was so wrapped up in what he was hiding downstairs that I forgot to protect him and Ax. What had I done?

Raúl saw it in my eyes. "Yes, you gave him over to me," he said. "Right now I control your leader, your most powerful fighter, and Visser One. So you'd all better do what I tell you. Or Rachel just might do something she'll regret." He looked at her in her cell and she cowered, burying her head in her hands.

"I don't want to imagine what kind of sick event you're planning, but it's not going to happen," Marco said.

"Was geschehen ist?"_What happened?_ A female shriek. Momo! She was standing behind Raúl, the door open, staring at us in horror.

"They almost broke out," Raúl responded. "But we have them now."

How could she be in this, too? Momo should have understood our situation. She was so empathetic. So innocent. There was no way she could be under Raúl's power.

"Is this necessary?" Momo asked quietly.

"Yes," Raúl replied firmly. His Spanish accent came back for speaking in front of Momo. "Get upstairs."

"You can't kill them," she pleaded. "I know they made a deal with the Yeerks, but they can still be salvaged."

"Deal with the Yeerks?" Marco demanded. "Is lying part of that sociopath thing?"

"Shut up!" Raúl snapped. He turned his head to Momo. "You don't understand. There are levels to this you don't even know."

But she wasn't listening to him anymore. She looked at Marco. "What's going on?"

"Your buddy Raúl here has a secret identity," Marco told her. "His name is Sam, he's from America, he's a nutjob, and he wants to kill us all."

Momo looked at Raúl for an explanation, but I looked to Marco. I recognized the name Sam... Jake said that was the guy who started the International Yeerk Resistance. But how? He was supposed to have died years ago. Manny said he committed suicide to keep from being infested. He was far too valuable to be kept alive.

Marco looked back at me and shrugged. "It's the truth," he added quietly, so as to not disturb the confrontation between Momo and Sam.

"You've been lying to everyone this whole time," she said to him. Sam shook his head.

"Not everyone. Just you."

"Me? Why?"

"The Spaniards could hear my American accent when I spoke Spanish. There was no hiding from them. And Manny and I go too far back for me to be able to hide from him."

Momo looked hurt. Betrayed. I suppose when you find out your leader is a fake, that happens. Or, maybe she was realizing her leader was far more real than she'd ever realized.

"That's why you always overruled Manny," she stated. "I thought he was just... I didn't know..."

"This was necessary," Sam told her. "Now go upstairs and tie up the Andalite."

"Don't do it," Marco said quickly. "Momo, don't. Believe me." Sam started down the stairs and walking towards Marco, but it didn't scare him. He continued. "Sam's just in this war so he can kill people, but we really want to help the human race. We've done more than-"

_Wham!_ Sam whipped the butt of his pistol into Marco's stomach, knocking the air out of him. Marco coughed and gasped for air, and my tears came back. _Leave him alone,_ I silently begged. We were so helpless without our ability to morph, and Sam knew it.

"Just. Go," Sam ordered.

Momo shook her head, not in defiance, but in confusion. "I'm not hurting any more people," she finally said quietly.

"You'll do what I tell you, and I'm telling you to go upstairs and tie up the Andalite!" Sam roared. Tears started down Momo's face and I noticed she was staring at Manny. He was staring back. That's when I finally realized: they were in love.

"You're not causing any more damage!" she screamed. She was sobbing now. It was a pathetic display of courage and sorrow.

Sam stomped back up the stairs towards her and put the gun to her head. "I'm giving you one more chance to obey me," he said calmly.

"Sam, don't," Manny whispered. Sam turned to him with rage in his eyes.

"Is that an order?" he demanded. Manny looked away, and Sam turned back to Momo.

"Go."

"No."

_BAM!_

I screamed. After everything I'd seen and everything I'd done, I had never seen a human being get shot before, and it was horrifying. The bullet went completely through both sides of her head, and dragged blood along with it. Momo fell to the floor and didn't move an inch. She was dead.

"No!" I yelled. I was crying now. I shouldn't have looked at Sam, not after knowing everything I knew about him now. But I couldn't help it. I wanted him to redeem himself. I wanted to see a look of shock on his face, I wanted him to say, "Oh no, what have I done?" So I looked up at him, and all I saw was a smile.

I remembered his words, _"pleasure derived from torture."_ And I knew we had to get out of here.

A/N: Sorry for the long chapter! I started going and couldn't stop! Anyways, hope this appeases you guys for awhile... I'll be out of town (and away from my computer) for a few days, so this is definitely it for the weekend, maybe a little longer. Count on about a week for another update.

Before anyone asks... yes, Momo really is dead. No, she will not come back.

BeautifullyBroken – yes, David's in this because he wants revenge against the Animorphs. He doesn't like the Yeerks (who does?) but get real, the Yeerks have never actually harmed David. The Animorphs have. That's why he's more concerned with punishing them than getting those pesky alien invaders. And Sam's in it because he's just crazy.

lol No, seriously, Sam and Visser One actually have a bit of history that you'll see later in the story, and that's why he's REALLY doing this. So he does have some sort of motive. But he is a sociopath, and he does find joy in making others suffer, so that's why he's having fun playing with our dearly beloved Animorphs. Basically, they were in the way.


	9. Second Death

A/N: Usually, when I end a chapter it's because there's a change in setting or time passes. For this chapter, the case is neither... this takes place RIGHT after the last one, and they might as well be 1 big chapter. The only reason they aren't is because, hey, that one's long enough already!

As for Rachel being OOC... I really am sorry you guys feel that way. I try to keep them in character, and having her get raped has been hard for me (I know, I dug my own grave...) because it's hard for me to imagine how she would react. Popular opinion says she would be showing a little more spunk than I've been giving her, so I'll keep that in mind from now on. Thanks for the input. :-)

RACHEL

((Rachel.))

I didn't move an inch. I couldn't. Sam had a gun and he was standing over Momo, watching her as though he wanted to make sure she was dead. I think he was just gloating in her death. Gazing in awe and pride at his latest murder, his latest accomplishment.

I hadn't heard Tobias's voice for two days, but it felt like forever. So much had happened since then. I was a different person now, and he had missed everything. When things like that happen, time goes by so slowly. An hour seems like an eternity.

I wanted to run over to him and give him a hug. More, I wanted him to be human, and standing right next to me in this crazy, mixed-up situation. Sam had a gun, Momo was dead. Manny was gaping in awe. Cassie was crying and Marco was... just Marco. Both of them held at bay by the Spaniards, Jake and Ax unconscious. It was such a complicated situation, and all I wanted was to be home. And lame as it sounds, I just wanted to see my family again.

((Rachel, on three, make a break for Sam. You have to stop him.))

Tobias didn't understand. He didn't know what Sam had done. I could never approach that man again, not after seeing him the way I saw him.

((You and I are our only hope. We're the only ones who aren't unconscious or bound.))

I glanced at Sam. Again, time moved slow. Had he been staring at Momo for five minutes, or five seconds? Hard to tell. He looked so terrifying, holding that gun, and I knew he had another one. There was a little bit of blood on his face, but more on his shirt and arm. It had splattered a little when he shot her. I didn't know blood actually did that.

((One.))

_Oh Tobias, I wish I could help you, but I can't take Sam on. I just can't. You don't understand._

Sam turned around and looked at the two Spaniards holding Marco and Cassie.

((Two.))

"Put them in cells," he ordered.

((Three!))

I slammed into the cold cell bars of the door and it swung open. I don't know how or why. The last thing I wanted to do – the last thing I felt like I_could_ do – was approach Sam, in any way, forceful or not. But something inside me knew Tobias was right. Besides, this wasn't about me. Cassie was crying. They were going to put Marco back in the cell. My cousin wasn't conscious anymore, and this might've been our only chance.

So my body did what my brain didn't understand and my heart refused to do, and I darted up the stairs and tackled Sam to the ground, vaguely aware of a red-tailed hawk flying up into Beto's – the one who held Marco – face and Marco getting free.

Sam's gun went flying across the tiled kitchen floor, but I knew he had another on him, and I knew where he kept it. I grabbed both his wrists and held them to the floor, pinning him, but he was stronger than me.

Sam concentrated all his force into his right arm and used it to throw me off. I began to tumble down the stairs, but when I saw him reach for his second gun, I fought gravity with everything I had and grabbed a hold of one of the stairs. I regained my balance, and darted back up the stairs for round two.

But he was too fast, and he reached what he was looking for. To my shock, it wasn't his spare gun. It was his lighter.

"A smoke?" I breathed under my breath. What was he thinking? He was going to light a cigarette at a time like this?

No.

He lit it and held it next to the wooden doorframe. The flame spread fast around the entire frame – must have been the lacquer, but I'd never thought a doorframe would light up so fast – and he stood there in the middle of the flames, now silhouetted by the light given off. Momo's dead body still beneath him, her blood on his face... his tired, weary face, bloodshot eyes, dark circles, and sweat glistening.

_Then_ he grabbed his gun.

I hesitated. Yeah, the fire scared me. I can take on an armed sociopathic basket case, but it was a natural reaction for me to hesitate once I started feeling the heat. But I knew I could fit through the doorframe. And I knew if I didn't, he would shoot me.

So I tackled him again.

Marco yelled some profanity in the background, but I was concentrating on Sam. This was it; it was his time to pay. I was going to kill him.

I knew he was stronger than me, but I was probably more agile. He tried the same move, forcing his right arm up to push me off. But all I had to do was hold on to his wrist as I rolled, and use the momentum he supplied. So when he pushed with his right arm, I pulled with my left – the one I held onto his right with – and we did roll. When he was on top of me for a brief second I flashbacked to the nightmare, but we still had momentum, and it only took a little power for me to keep the roll going and stay on top.

"Was this the plan?" I demanded. I couldn't help but gloat. He was running out of ideas.

"If you don't let me go, we're all going to die in here," he spat.

His head jerked over towards the basement, and instinctively I followed to see what had happened. I realized when he pushed me off that I'd just fallen for a more realistic version of the "look! Tom Cruise!" trick. He pushed me back, but I caught myself on my feet as I stumbled. The gun was still out. He pulled it up and I saw down the barrel. Pointed right at my face.

I stared at him. I wouldn't back down, not this time. Backing down never got anyone anywhere. Yeah, he once had a power over me. Fine, I was definitely a little emotionally unstable. But I was completely done taking Sam's shit. This was over. It was over.

All I could think of right then was redeeming myself. I was helpless, yes. I was inside a burning house and had a gun in my face, and absolutely nothing to aid my fight against him. But I had submitted in the past, and it wasn't happening again. I would not beg for my life. I would not get down on my knees. I would not even ask him not to pull the trigger. I would take what I had to take, but give him no ground.

I don't understand why he pulled the trigger, but he did. I'll never pretend to understand his mind. Sometimes I think Sam didn't even understand his mind. Then again, maybe that's why he did it.

It might have happened slowly, but time didn't exist right then. The moments where he took the gun and moved it away from me and towards himself. Someone might have said I stopped breathing because the smoke was hard to take in, but it had nothing to do with the smoke. I could not believe what I was seeing.

_BAM!_

The gun hit the ground first, with a very loud _thud._ Then his shoulder, then his head.

"Shit," I whispered. I had to remember to breathe, but the smoke was too heavy. I got down on my knees where it was more clear, and checked his pulse.

Sam was dead.

I sat there by him for a few moments, trying to let the whole ordeal sink in. How? Why? He'd had plans. He was going to torture us to death, kill his visser, maybe save her head as a prize. Wasn't he? Why had he done it?

Was there some shred of humanity in him? Had he realized what he'd done and felt bad about it?

Maybe he was just sick of the struggle. Was there even a struggle? Did he kill himself for the sake of grief, or relief? How could this whole ordeal end, just like that?

I was crying harder than I'd cried in a very long time. The tears were pouring down onto his blood-stained shirt. I didn't cry because I felt like the world had lost something. I knew that everyone – human and Yeerk – had gained something when Sam died. We won something. I was crying because I couldn't believe it was over.

Part of the ceiling crashed down next to me and I jumped up a little. It brought me back to the reality that the house was burning, Jake and Ax were upstairs unconscious, and Marco, Cassie, and Tobias were still down there, facing the last two Spaniards and Manny.

They were never going to believe this.

A/N: The Visser's still alive and kickin', so don't worry, there is more. :-)

Hullabahoos – assumed bruises. ;-)


	10. Temporary Truce

DAVID

I would have killed him if he wasn't already dead. Then again, the only reason I would kill him is because he killed himself. If he were alive, everything would be going well, and I wouldn't kill him.

Did that make sense?

I figure Sam killed himself because he knew there was no way out. At this point, he knew the Animorphs were going to escape, and he's not the kind of guy who can handle defeat. If they killed him, it would be an embarrassment. His pride wouldn't allow himself to be defeated by the enemy. He had to do it himself. He would rather take himself out of the game than be forced out.

I saw Rachel kneeling by his body crying, but I didn't understand why. Until now, I had no idea the great Xena was capable. And even if she was, why over Sam? She hardly knew him. Besides, he was the bad guy. After what he'd put her through, she should be dancing for joy when he died. What was she doing?

Sam had been my way of getting even with the Animorphs, and now that he was gone, I had to re-evaluate all of my plans for my revenge. But the main thing was that I had to keep tabs on them all. I had to follow them, but I also had to find a human to work through. As a rat, the only thing I could do was bite them, and that would hardly accomplish anything. The good thing was that Sam already broke in an army for me. Manny, Pepe, and Beto. The bad thing? None of them knew I existed.

I scurried down the stairs and surveyed the situation. It was crazy. The ground-level was burning and down here they were still fighting.

((Manny,)) I said privately. ((Don't show that you can hear me. This is private thought-speak. I am Sam's boss, understand? Sam is dead. You're working for me now.))

Manny disobeyed my orders; he hesitated and looked confused which left him wide open for Marco's punch to his face. It knocked him down.

((Right now the number one priority is to escape, understand? You will get out of here with the other two and go two blocks north, three blocks east of this house. You will hide in the bathroom on the ground floor of the building there and wait for more instructions. You will wait as long as it takes. Two north, three east.))

"The house," Manny said as Marco stood over him. "We have to get out."

((Make sure they don't follow you,)) I added.

Marco spit out some blood onto the floor. He had a lot of blood in his mouth; his teeth were tinted red. "What are you saying, a truce?"

"Truce?"

"Call your guys off; let's get out of here."

Manny nodded and stood up. "Beto, Pepe, we're leaving."

The fighting stopped. The two Spanish boys looked at him like he was crazy. _You better believe it,_ I thought. They would listen to Manny, right? He had been an iconic leader for so long. Besides that, he had that personality about him. He seemed like a leader, even if he wasn't officially.

"We're all sensible people here," Manny explained. "This house is going to burn down. We have to get out."

A/N: I put that in David's perspective because it had to be either him or Manny, since those two are the only ones who know about the private thought-speak. And I just thought it would be good for you all to know what David's thinking. But that's why this chapter is so short... I had to get you inside his head, but there's limited things I can write for him without... well... I just had to limit him. :p :-)

Don't worry, I will update soon to make up for it.


	11. Nap in the Forest

MARCO

We ran up the stairs and saw not one, but two dead bodies. I almost fell over when I saw Rachel crying above Sam's dead body. It was obvious he'd been shot in the head. But how? And why was she crying?

"Rachel, let's go!" I said. She sniffed, wiped her cheeks, and looked up at me. She looked horrible. Then again, I probably did, too. Manny had landed a few nasty punches to my jaw, and my mouth was filled with blood. I'd spat it out three times already, but it was still coming.

"He's dead," she said.

"I see that. Let's go!"

Cassie yelped and put her hand over her mouth. I hoped she wouldn't cry, too. All we needed was a couple crying women.

"This house is burning; we need to get out!" I snapped. Manny, Beto, and Pepe slid past me and ran out the door. They were outside. Home free. We still had to grab Jake and Ax. I don't know why I expected them to help us. I guess I just figured "truce" meant "team." Apparently it only meant "let's not kill each other."

Rachel wiped her nose with her hand, sniffed, and stood up. She stared at his body for awhile, then she bent back down and grabbed the gun that was near him. "We... might want this," she said. I nodded. Sure. Whatever. I didn't really care about anything besides getting out of the house before it collapsed.

I realized then that we were upstairs, and that meant I could morph. So the changes began quickly, thick black hair grew all over my body and my arms grew to an unbelievably huge size. Gorilla. Rachel took the hint and started her grizzly morph.

((We'll get Jake and Ax,)) I told them. ((It will be easiest for us, with our morphs. We'll meet you two behind the house.)) Cassie nodded and picked up Tobias so he wouldn't have to try to fly in the house, and then went out the front door. Rachel and I rushed up the stairs.

((So, you got to kill him,)) I stated on our way up.

((I don't want to talk about it.))

When she said that, I almost fell over. Didn't want to talk about it? I imagined she'd want to gloat. If nothing else, just say proudly, "yep, I killed that jerk. I'm so glad he's dead." But suddenly she was being all sensitive about it?

((Well... what happened?))

((Shut up, Marco.)) Rachel had two ways in which she would say the words "shut up, Marco." The first way was with a chuckle and a roll of the eyes. She did it when I was being incredibly witty and she didn't want to admit it. The other way was when she wanted to rip my head off and I was pushing some serious buttons.

She said it the second way, so I decided to listen to her.

We got upstairs where, thankfully, there wasn't a lot of fire. However, there was quite a bit of smoke that had risen from the ground floor. I opened the first door. Empty. Second. Empty. Third.

Bingo.

Jake passed out on a bed, Ax passed out on a different one. I figured it would be easier for me to carry Ax since he was an odder shape and I had more humanlike hands. So I picked him up without much trouble, and she tossed Jake over her furry shoulder. I looked at her for a moment and she looked back, trying to figure out whatever it was I was trying to figure out. How would we get out? Back out the front door?

I walked over to the window and punched it open. Cassie was standing back there waiting for us, Tobias in a tree above her. We were only one floor up.

((We can make it,)) I said.

((Do you think we'll make a scene?))

What a ridiculous question. Did I think a gorilla and a grizzly bear kidnapping a guy and a blue deerlike scorpion thing, jumping out a window will look suspicious? ((Um, yes, but I don't think the front door is a_better_ choice.))

((Just go.))

Jake would never have approved, but I figure he was knocked out for a reason. Besides, Erek had told us that most people in Spain weren't controllers. So chances were whoever saw us would just get their eyes checked. Or check in to a mental institution.

It sounds crazy, but I doubted anyone would even see us. It was residential, and most people don't sit around staring out their windows. The blinds were closed. They were probably at work, and even if they weren't, they were probably watching TV or surfing the web, not looking for animal kidnappers. Sorry, Jake.

I jumped out, and Rachel went after me. The look on Cassie's face worried me. She wasn't crying anymore, but I could see that she had been. She also had a couple burn marks on her, and a mess of sweat and ash and blood on her clothes. I realized that once I demorphed I would look pretty good. Well, I'd look normal, but that was pretty good compared to her. I thought maybe she should morph something – anything – and then demorph, just so she didn't draw a lot of attention.

I set Ax down as close to the house as I could. There was no place to hide him in this yard; it was just grass. But hopefully we could hide him until he woke up. Which would be... when?

Rachel just plopped Jake down in front of her and demorphed. I did the same.

"What is going on?" Cassie demanded of us. I remembered that she hadn't even been aware of Sam being a bad guy. Her, Jake, and Ax were out of the loop.

"Sam came to Spain and was hiding under the alias 'Raúl,'" I explained. "He built some kind of international army, then faked a death and told Manny to head the thing up. When all this went down, he stepped back up and took control." I looked at Rachel to see if she had anything to add.

"Him and Visser One have been hunting each other," she said. "He didn't want us to get her first."

"Visser One... where is she?" Cassie asked.

Excellent question.

"Is she in the house?"

Better question.

I turned around and looked at the burning place. My first instinct was to bust in there and tear it apart looking for her, but I had to remind myself that she was the bad guy. If she died in that house, it was supposed to be a good thing. No, not supposed to be – _was._ It _was_ a good thing.

"Maybe," I replied. "But it doesn't matter. If she is, then Sam just did our job for us when he lit it up."

I could see the pity in Cassie's eyes, but she didn't say anything. Good. I didn't want her pity. I don't think I would have been able to handle it.

"How are we going to wake them up?" I asked.

((Ax might not be out for very long,)) Tobias said. ((Given the fact that he's bigger than Jake, and maybe Andalites are resistant to that kind of thing.))

"Do you have any idea how long 'not very long' is?" I asked.

((Well, how long were you and Rachel out?))

I looked at her. She woke up before me.

Rachel was shaking her head. "I don't know. I don't know how many days passed. Cassie, when did we leave the hotel to go on the mission?"

"You left yesterday," she replied.

"I woke up when it was still dark. I must have been out... four or five hours."

"We can't wait that long," Cassie said. "We can't just stand out here trying to hide Ax. Especially if someone calls this in and the fire department shows up."

Rachel glanced nervously around the area. I think she was looking for open windows or faces of any kind, but she didn't see any. Still, she looked nervous. I think we all were. Her and I had just demorphed without a second thought. There was an Andalite sitting outside a burning house. We were quite a sight.

"Tobias, is there water around?" I asked him. "A river or lake? Something secluded."

((Be right back.))

Cassie, Rachel, and I stood around like idiots for a few moments, but Tobias was back fast. Good thing, too, because we really had to get out of there. I was sure that if anyone was home, they'd be calling the house in.

((Lucky we're in the suburbs, the middle of nowhere isn't far,)) he reported.

"So we're supposed to morph back and carry them out of here?" I asked. "Where's a Chee when you need one? We need cover or something."

"Cover, that's it!" Cassie said. She ran back around to the front of the house.

"What the..." I looked to Rachel. "Stay here." I ran after Cassie and caught up with her at the entrance to the house. "What do you think you're doing?" I demanded. She was at the front door, but she turned around when she heard my voice.

"There's gotta be_one_ blanket or something in there that hasn't burned up yet," she replied. "I have to hurry before it's too late."

Were it not for lack of a better idea, I would have objected, but at the moment I had absolutely nothing to one-up that plan. So I shrugged and walked back around.

"Cassie's crazy," I muttered. Nodding, Rachel kicked her feet around a little. I started to wonder if Tobias was talking to her, just because of the fact that she wouldn't speak. She was probably listening. He was probably whispering sweet nothings into her ear. Or maybe she was still mad at me for asking her what had happened with Sam in the kitchen.

Cassie came out – thank goodness – with a black bed sheet in no time. We got to work right away, draping it over Ax and then turning him on his other side so we could... I don't know, drag him along or something. I had no idea what we were doing, and I don't think anyone else did, either. We were just trying to make good time.

I ran over and grabbed Jake. It was awkward carrying a guy, to be honest, but I figured I would let the girls work together with the Andalite. Carrying Jake would probably be heavier than splitting Ax, and I saw it as my duty – as the only conscious human male – to take the rough job.

((You guys need help?)) Tobias asked.

"Don't risk morphing outside again," Rachel replied quickly. She had a corner of the sheet and slung it over her shoulder. Cassie brought up the rear. It looked like they were just carrying a dead deer, which seemed strangely normal to me. It shouldn't be that odd, the idea that maybe someone found a dead deer in their yard and was taking it somewhere to dispose of it. Okay, yeah, it was _kinda_ weird, but not as weird as the truth. It was normal enough that it would keep people from screaming.

Tobias led us a little out of the way. We walked for maybe twenty minutes, which was hard, but we knew it had to be done. No one said anything. We were all tired and stressed out. I think we needed Jake, his sensibility and guidance. Rachel and I never should have gone behind his back in the first place. We just couldn't function without him.

We got to a river, but it wasn't very conveniently laid-out. It was a steep drop to the stream; not the kind of thing you can wade into gradually. I set Jake down right before the drop off, but the girls dropped Ax a little bit before that point. Then they both collapsed.

I wanted to do the same, but I felt like now wasn't the time. "Tobias," I said, "Can you stand watch? I just need, like a... a five minute nap."

((Don't worry about anything,)) he replied. I laid down and was out right away.


	12. Rachel and Tobias

RACHEL

I was so glad that Marco and I had morphed to carry Ax and Jake out of the house. If we hadn't morphed, I would still be wearing those gross old jeans.

When I woke up, Ax was already up and bathing in the river. I realized how badly he looked, just from the soot in the fire and from being dragged around the middle of nowhere, grass and mud all over his blue fur. Poor guy. Andalites are like cats in that they love cleanliness. Of course, they're also warriors, so they'll get down and dirty when they have to. But when they don't have to, they really prefer to be sparkling clean.

I could relate. I would have killed for a shower.

"Would have killed." Funny phrase.

I didn't want to think about what would have gone down if I'd been holding the gun. Of course, I stood up to him. I didn't break a second time. Held my ground, stared him down. I like to think I would have killed him if I could have. But now I'll never know, right?

Everyone else would see it as defeat. They all thought I killed him, and that would justify me once they found out what happened. "Yeah, Rachel, sure he had control of you once, but at least you killed him in the end. You got your revenge, and showed him who's boss." If they only knew.

Right now Marco knew the most about my situation than anyone else, but he was no help. He never would be. If I told Marco I hadn't killed Sam, he'd be disappointed in me. He would judge. See it as weakness. I knew he would, because he went through the same thing with his mom.

Marco always told himself he could kill her, but I don't think he really could. He always got out of it by some stroke of luck - either good or bad luck, I don't know. I would call it bad luck that she always got away, but maybe he would call it good that he never actually had to make that choice. Because maybe he figured he couldn't do it when it came down to it. And if I told him I hadn't killed Sam, he would figure I couldn't when it came down to it, either. He would take the weakness he saw in himself and put it on me. I couldn't handle that.

((You woke up fast,)) Tobias told me gently. He knew something had happened. He had to. He was Tobias, and he knew me. ((You were only asleep for about an hour. Something must be wrong.))

"Ax can watch over them, right?" I asked. "Can we... go for a walk?"

((That would not be a problem,)) Ax chimed in.

"Thanks."

Tobias flew down and landed on the ground, then began to morph into a human. I smiled. It was so refreshing to see him like that again. Seeing Tobias as a human is like going home after you were gone for so long. Even when he's around as a hawk, you miss him. You miss his eyes, his hair, the way he half-smiled. He didn't use this morph nearly enough, but I was glad he understood now just how much I needed to see him this way.

Him and I didn't usually show affection. We both knew it was there, but it wasn't displayed. But he knew the circumstances were very different right now, so when he walked up to me, he grabbed my hand. His touch still gave me butterflies. Such a contrast to Sam's touch. Sam's rough skin, his forceful touch. His powerful grip that would force anyone into submission. Even Xena.

We walked along silently for a few moments. Eventually he said, "We_might_ be out of Andalite hearing range by now." He spoke with a little tease in his voice. He was smiling a bit - a small smile, one that recognized the situation's gravity, but wanted to state that through all the turmoil, things would be okay. "But I think, even if we aren't, Ax knows what privacy means."

"Yeah," I replied quietly, looking down to the ground. He was going to want to know what happened, but I wasn't sure that I was ready to tell him.

"Rachel, what happened to you back there?"

My nose tingled. You know the tingle when you want to cry but you're so sick of it that you'd do anything to keep it in. Why was I going so crazy? I was not a crier. I never cried. This was so unlike me, but for some reason, I hadn't been able to stop it. I bit my lip and told myself over and over, don't do it, Rachel. It will make things worse. It's more weakness; you can't afford any more weakness.

"I..." I shook my head. "Tobias, believe me, I want to tell you. But it's just really hard, you know?"

He put his hand on my cheek and rested it there for a moment, and I basked in it. It felt amazing. "Rachel... you know, right now, I have so many regrets."

When he said that, I looked at him and saw it in his face. He was blaming himself for something, but it didn't make sense. "What happened back there wasn't your fault. It was mine, and Marco's."

He shook his head. "It's not that. I regret... not showing you how much I care."

"I know how you feel about me," I replied.

"I know, but I don't know if you understand or really believe it." His hand dropped and he looked away from me. "You know I've never been good at putting myself out there. I've never been good at... this... but I..." He looked back into my eyes again, but the pain was still there. "...You know I love you. But you don't seem to believe you can trust me."

"Oh, Tobias," I said quickly. "It's not you. It's not. I promise." I felt so horrible for making him feel bad. He didn't understand how hard this was for me. "I... I can't even admit it to myself."

"What did he do?"

The nose sting was back. I scrunched it up and hoped it would go away. For some reason, I felt I had to sit down. I made my way over to a tree and he followed me. He sat down before me and leaned his back up against it, holding his arm open for me to crawl inside. He knew I needed this and couldn't ask for it. It just wasn't in me. I could never ask a guy to be so sweet; it wasn't in my personality. But I still needed to be romanced, I still needed his romantic touch. Tobias was a prince.

I sat down next to him and snuggled up against his chest, his arm around me, strong and unmoving. We didn't speak for a few moments. I just rested there, zoning out, staring at nothing and trying to work up my courage. And he just held me. That's all. He held me.

Taking a deep breath, I broke the silence after a few minutes. I spoke quietly. "I... I don't even know how to say it."

"Do you need more time?"

What did he mean by time? Did he mean a few minutes laying like this? Or did he mean weeks, months? If he was offering months, I would gladly take the offer. But we were here right now, and I was safe, and I didn't want to keep him waiting. This was Tobias, after all. Tobias. And I loved him more than any other person in the world.

Still staring at nothing, my head on his chest, I quietly admitted, "I was raped."

He moved a little. Jerked. He was moving his head to try and see into my eyes, but I couldn't bring myself to move. He let the silence rest for a very long time, my heavy words hanging in the air. I wanted him to say something so badly. Change the subject, or do anything to take the pressure off. I couldn't stand those words being the last ones that were said. But I suppose he needed to let it sink in.

"Rachel..." he finally said. "Are you hurt?"

Hurt? Did rape hurt? Leave it to a guy to ask a question like that. Yeah, he didn't understand. No one ever would. "The physical pain was nothing compared..." I trailed off. My intention was to say "compared to the emotional pain," but that was also very difficult to say. "...just, I've felt pain before," I finished. I felt him take in a deep breath. He knew I was just saying that.

"I don't know what to say," he said. "Everything I can think of seems so... cliché. I can't imagine what it's like."

"No, nobody can," I said. He started running his hand through my hair, gently, carefully. "Don't tell."

"Jake should know."

"Tobias, don't," I insisted. The sweet, soft tones and gentle words were done now that I'd gotten the truth out there. I raised my head off his chest to look him in the eye. "I'll tell him when I can. But it was just too recent. I can't... I can't talk about it twice in one day. I need more time."

He nodded. "Okay. I promised you time."

I almost put my head back down, but the way he looked at me stopped me. Staring at me that way, I knew what he was thinking. But he wasn't kidding when he'd said he was bad at making the first move.

I extended my neck and leaned into him to get closer. He followed suit and leaned in to kiss me. It was gentle and sweet, as his lips brushed over mine. I don't care what he claims; he's a very amazing, very romantic kisser.

We didn't go far. Tobias and I never had to. Other couples like to show their love by what they do with each other, but Tobias and I expressed that love by what we did _for_ each other. We had saved each others' lives, and that was our love. When other couples take things farther, they give of themselves but they also get pleasure back. Tobias and I had a love that was free of that self-serving pleasure. We had an all-sacrificial love, a love where we would – and did – put our lives on the line for each other. And after experiencing that kind of love in the heat of battle, physical love seemed so contaminated with a selfish gratification. We didn't need it.

So after a short, tender kiss, I put my head back on his chest and he put his other arm around me. He held me tightly under that tree for forever, and I suddenly realized I was the luckiest girl in the entire world, and I would never let Tobias go. His strong arms promised me that he would never, ever let me go, either.

A/N: I am NOT a romance writer! I write drama and suspense, but NOT romance! So anyways, this chapter was hard for me to write because I had to make it all wispy and happy instead of freaky and bloody... so hopefully it wasn't too bad. It was good practice, I guess. Thanks for sticking me through this horrible chapter. I HAD to have some R/T in here, right? Let's face it: he's the only person in the world who can get her through this.

xxtigergirlxx – nice to see you again :-)

SouthrnBelle – I explained in this chapter why Rachel didn't tell Marco about her killing Sam, just for you. As for Jake, yes, he's definitely not going to be happy about the way things turned out.

I know I've been updating like crazy lately, but this might be the last chapter that happens with. You guys might have to wait a few days to a week for the next installment. But hey, at least Tobias is back in the story. :p


	13. Fight

A/N: Heh, one thing I didn't mention in my profile... I am a prankster. So I was awake at 3:45 AM, just got done pulling a middle-of-the-night Halloween prank, and was wide awake. So I wrote a chapter, but I didn't post it right away. I yawned once I was done, and it was time for bed. :-) But anyways, that's why this thing got written.

MARCO

Jake was wigging out, and we hadn't even told him anything yet.

When I woke up he was pacing furiously. I think five more minutes of walking like that and there would've been a huge ditch in the ground he trampled. He paced when he was trying to figure something out, but it could be anything. It could be figuring out a plan, or figuring out the meaning of life, or figuring out how his best friend and cousin could be so unbelievably stupid. Right now, you can guess which one he was doing.

I opened my eyes and saw him down closer to where my feet were. When he saw I was up, he turned his head and glared at me.

"Marco, don't ever betray my trust again."

Jake has always been my best friend. We were practically brothers. That's why, when he said that, I didn't take it too personally. It wasn't a "oh no, Jake's mad at me, maybe he doesn't like me..." kind of reaction. Girls do that. Guys don't. We're men, and we say what we mean. Jake meant exactly what he said: he didn't want me going behind his back. Girls look at tone and the way his eyes were glaring and all that kind of stuff, but I didn't read too much into it.

Still, it's a little scary to wake up to words like that.

"What do you know?" I asked him.

"Everything. Rachel told us everything."

I smirked. "I doubt she told you _everything_."

I should have looked around before I said that, just to see who else was around. So now that I looked, I realized that everyone was staring at Jake and I. And Rachel? If Jake didn't kill me, she would.

"What do you mean by that?" he demanded. When I didn't say anything, he looked at Rachel and demanded an answer.

((Jake, don't worry about it. Marco's being an ass.)) Tobias. Rachel probably told him.

"That doesn't surprise me," Jake muttered.

"Hey," I cut in. "I might have gone behind your back, but I had a right to. And what is this, bash Marco time? You _knew_ we were making deals with them, remember? And Rachel was there, too, it's not like this was all me. And I was just trying to help. She's _my_ mom, anyways, so don't I have the right to—"

"Let's get this straight, Marco," Jake replied, raising his voice a little. He squatted down to the ground so he was closer to my level. I was still lying on the ground. He took his big pointer finger and shoved it in my face. "You _never_ have the right to put _anyone_ in danger without making sure I'm aware of everything. Got that? We might be friends, but you have to respect the authority that you guys gave me. We can't operate otherwise."

I pushed his hand out of the way. "Is this about me, or about your power complex?"

"I do not have a power complex," he answered quickly. "We cannot function well as a team if there is no organization. Someone has to head things up, and you guys have put me in that position since day 1."

He didn't use contractions when he was mad.

"Excuse me, but haven't you always said – in every mission involving Visser One – 'sure Marco, do whatever you want, it's your mom?'"

"This is different."

I stood up. I was sick of having to look up at him. Of course, when he stood, I had to look up at him again, but I felt better being on my feet. Fighting while lying down never did anyone any favors. "How is this different?"

Jake pointed at Rachel. "You put Rachel at risk!" he yelled. "And Tobias! And we had no idea where you were! We thought you were infested! Sam told us Tobias was _dead_ and that you and Rachel refused to escape from the Yeerks because you'd lost it!"

"Well quit blaming me for Sam's lies!" I returned. This was ridiculous. How was everything suddenly my fault? "You _knew_ what we were doing, Jake! You approved of this plan!"

"I did _not_ approve of you going behind my back and taking the visser for yourself." Visser for myself? He was sounding like Sam. "I have been nothing but respectful of you whenever something we do involves her, and you took advantage of that. What do you expect me to do?"

"Excuse me, boys?" Rachel said. There was a lot of tension in her voice, too. She was definitely not cutting into the argument to calm us down. If nothing else, she was going to escalate it. "I'm not taking sides, but you both have to realize that no one put me at risk except for me."

I looked to Jake and smirked a little. _Yeah, she did it to herself. So quit blaming me,_ I thought.

"I told Marco if he didn't let me go, I would tell you everything," she said to Jake. "He didn't have a choice."

"Why did you guys feel like you had to go behind my back?" he demanded.

"Because you and everyone else just wants to 'spare Marco the pain,'" I replied. "And I don't want to be babied! I can handle it by myself!"

"Obviously you can't, or we wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere with nothing to show for it!" he roared.

"Excuse me if I'm not as great a leader as you, Almighty Jake!" I spat. "But at least nothing went to my head!"

"Went to my head? I have been _nothing_ but sensible and understanding when dealing with you!"

"Well, quit it! Don't you get it?" I shoved him a few steps back with both hands. "I don't need special treatment!"

His eyes were huge. He probably couldn't believe I'd turned the fight physical, but he shouldn't have been so surprised. Like we'd never fought before.

He ran at me and tackled me to the ground, but it didn't last long. Cassie and Tobias were trying to pull him off me as soon as I hit the ground. They pulled Jake up, arms flailing, trying to cause some kind of bodily harm to me. But he was too far away. He couldn't reach.

"Jake, stop it," Cassie said in that very firm, yet calming voice that only Cassie does. "Just stop it. It's okay. We're all okay."

He shook her and Tobias off himself as I stood up. "It's _not_ okay," he replied. "We're screwed."

"We're not screwed," I replied. Yeah, my voice was raised. I couldn't help but be defensive after he'd insulted my leading skills. Just because I wasn't _the_ leader didn't mean I couldn't lead when I had to. I doubted he could've done as good a job as I did considering the circumstance, and the fact that Sam was a lunatic. "Rachel took Sam out. Manny's a pushover without someone telling him what to do. The only enemy we have right now is Visser One, same as always, and she's probably tied up somewhere. We just have to find her."

"Find her and _what_?" he demanded, still glaring at me. I wish I wouldn't have, but I did hesitate. It was stupid of me.

"Kill her," I replied.

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure."

Jake nodded and his glare softened. "If that's what you want." Then he thought twice, and his glare and bitterness came back. "Unless you think I'm babying you when I say that."

What's this? Jake's a smartass now? That was supposed to be my job. "Actually, you are, but you're babying just the right amount."

That made him smirk. Yeah, old Jake was back. I knew how to calm him down when I wanted to, it's just that I usually didn't want to. I usually would rather defend my pride.

He looked over at Rachel. "You really killed Sam? You didn't tell us that."

Rachel looked away from him. "Yeah, um, I..."

"She shot him in the head," I explained. "While Tobias, Cassie, and I were taking care of business downstairs."

Jake nodded. "Good work." Finally. A positive word.

Rachel spoke so quietly I could barely hear her. "Thank you," she mumbled. I raised my eyebrow, but didn't say anything. There might be a good reason she didn't want to talk about her killing Sam, so I didn't want to call her out in front of the whole group. But I knew what had happened while we were there, so maybe she would tell me since she wouldn't have to explain as much. I made a mental note to talk to her in private later. Then again, secrets with Rachel were what got me into this mess.

Oh, well.

Jake sighed and rubbed his hands together. "Okay," he said. "Well, let's... let's think of a plan, here."

"Maybe we should just go home," Cassie suggested. "This has been our most dangerous mission yet, and we're lucky to be alive. It's been a long couple days, and we don't know where to start with finding the visser. We don't even know if she's still alive."

Jake nodded slowly. "Yeah, you might be right. What does everyone else think?"

Nobody spoke for a moment, so I decided to pipe in. "I think we should recuperate for a day and then go back to Madrid. Wrap things up while we're here." He nodded again and looked to Rachel. She was refused to make eye contact with him, but she could apparently feel his eyes on her, because she responded.

"Why don't we just cut our losses and go home," she said quietly.

It was the first time I'd ever heard her say something other than "let's do it." I couldn't believe my ears. Was this our Rachel? Yeah, something had definitely gone down with Sam in that kitchen.

Jake had the same reaction I did. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Excuse me? You want to go home?"

Rachel didn't like being made to feel like she was wimping out. She took as much offense to that as your average guy would. "Excuse me, Jake, but Cassie's right... this has been our most dangerous mission ever. If Tobias wouldn't have woken up when he did, we would all be in cells right now at Sam's mercy. Why don't we live to fight another day?"

"The worst of it's over," I replied. "Yeah, we had a close call back there, but it's done now. We're done. We just have to find her. And Sam already captured her for us, so we just have to figure out where she is and we're done." I looked at Jake expectantly. In turn, he looked to Tobias.

"I..." Tobias hesitated. Something was going on. "I don't know, Jake. I hate to throw in the towel, I guess." He looked guilty after he said it. He probably wanted to take Rachel's side, but he knew I was right.

Jake didn't bother asking for Ax's opinion. He know what he would say.

"Marco and Tobias for staying, Rachel and Cassie for leaving," Jake summed up. "How do I always end up being the tie breaker?"

"Because you always give your opinion last," I answered. He sighed.

"Guys, I want to go home as much as anyone. I miss my family. I miss... food, and clothes, and knowing what in the world is going on. But we came all this way, and Marco's right. Sam gift-wrapped her for us. We might as well do what we came here to do."

"Excuse me, did you just say 'Marco's right?'" I asked. "After all that 'you can't lead' nonsense?"

Jake smiled at me. "Don't push it, Marco."

"Yes, sir."


	14. David

MARCO

The next day, after we were all "bathed" (minus soap and shampoo) and "well-rested" (that is, as well-rested as you can be in the freezing night on hard ground while wearing skin-tight, very much not insulated clothing without blankets), we went back to Madrid. Our first stop was a giant Target-like mall that Rachel had been to on one of her romantic dates with the basket case. It was called "El Corte Inglés," and I know Inglés means English, but there was nothing English about it.

While there, we bought clothes and a little food... cheese, crackers, and apples. They were cheap, and we all felt like a change from fast food. When we got out of there we walked around and found some huge, special-looking building. We found out later we were actually in the entry gardens of the Royal Palace. Crazy.

We were eating when Ax started making big eyes at something in the bushes.

"What are you doing?" Jake asked him as he took a bite of his cracker-cheese-cracker mini-sandwich. What an amateur. Didn't he know it's supposed to be cheese-cracker-cheese?

Ax didn't speak out loud with his human mouth. ((Prince Jake, I do not wish to sound paranoid, however... there is a creature that has been following us since we were in the forest.))

Jake lowered his eyebrows and frowned. "What do you mean? When did you notice it?"

((I first noticed it when we arrived in the forest, but I did not think it mattered. However, it has now followed us into the city, and did not lose us when we entered the human shopping arena. It is a small, white rodent.))

I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Suddenly, I remembered my dream. The first dream I'd had when we were held captive by Sam. The dream that didn't make any sense... namely, because it skipped over Rachel and included one very brief, very insane ex-member of our team. If you could ever call him that.

"Jake," I hissed quietly. "David."

"Don't be crazy, Marco," Jake replied, shaking his head. "How in the world would David get to Spain? And find us?"

"A white rat is following us around Madrid. Do you really think Visser Three would be using a rat morph? Who else is our enemy who's a rat?"

Jake still thought I was crazy, but then Cassie put her hand on Jake's arm. "Jake, I have a bad feeling about this. I don't know that it's David, but I do think something's wrong."

I smirked. _Listen to your girlfriend._

"You're all nuts," Jake replied. "There's no way-"

"Sam knew that you and I are cousins," Rachel stated. It was hard to read Jake's reaction now. I could tell he didn't want to deal with this, but at the same time, he knew he had to hear us out. "How would he know that, unless he had an informer?"

"But how would David get to Spain?" Jake repeated.

"Sam could take him," I replied. "Sam's _from_ America."

"How would they ever have met?"

"Remember, Sam also knew a lot about local Yeerks," Tobias chimed in. "When we first met him, he mentioned Chapman's Yeerk, and Aftran. Sam must have been from our area, and so was David."

Jake believed us. He had to. There was no other way to explain Sam's knowledge, and besides, who could the rat be? The only other entity it could possibly is Visser Three in morph, but as far as we knew, he was still in America. And the rat being Visser Three wouldn't explain Sam's knowledge, while this did. Besides, Visser Three would never use a rat morph. He didn't even like using his human morph; he only used it out of necessity. He much preferred to be big, powerful, and bloodthirsty. Hardly a rat.

"Address him," Jake said finally. He looked to Tobias. "Tell him we know he's there. Ask what he wants."

Tobias turned and looked over toward the bushes again. I couldn't see David, but I did see something scurry. ((David, we know you're there. What do you want?))

Sure enough. ((How did you find me?))

Rachel clenched her jaw. She'd always hated David, probably even more than I did. And I hated him an awful lot.

((An Andalite's observation skills, Cassie's feelings, and the rest of our cunning. What do you want?))

((What do you think I want?))

Tobias rolled his eyes and looked at Jake. "I hate when people do this," he muttered. Jake shook his head.

"Just tell him to quit playing games," Jake muttered. None of us had the patience for this.

((Quit messing with us, David. Just tell us what you want.))

((I want you all to be trapped as rats. Eye for an eye.))

((You tried to have us killed. Don't you think that was a little over zealous?))

((In all fairness, you guys would have killed me if Cassie would let you get away with it.))

((Where's Visser One?))

((Oh? You lost her?))

((You know what happened,)) Tobias replied. He looked tired.

((I may or may not have her, but the thing is-))

((Quit messing around, man. We're not bothering you. We're not going to kill you. We'll just take her and go quietly.))

((And what makes you think I'll give her over to you?))

((Because she has no value to you.))

David paused for a minute on that one. I thought it was funny. What, he hadn't thought about that? He didn't realize there was no reason for him to want her?

((Tell you what: I'll settle for the blue box.))

Jake snorted. Rachel smirked. Tobias chuckled.

((Do you think we're idiots?))

((You can keep the box. Just let me use it to get my morphing power back.))

((You'll kill us,)) Tobias replied evenly.

((I won't. I'll trap myself as a human. Things will be back to normal.))

Tobias looked to Jake, but he was doubtful. Tobias didn't want to make a deal with David; that was obvious. But Jake was thinking about it.

"Is there any way this will come back to haunt us?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, if David starts up a psycho international army like Sam did," Rachel replied. "And I wouldn't even put it past him."

((I already have an army, Rachel. I inherited his.))

((How did you meet him?)) Tobias asked.

I suddenly realized nobody was going for the cheese anymore. I grabbed four slices and began ripping them into smaller pieces to eat.

((Sam was a controller, so I didn't have to explain much. But he was too strong for them, and too crazy. It got to a point where the Yeerks didn't want to take him as a host, so they locked him up in his own cell, apart from the other hosts. He was trapped down by the Yeerk pool for weeks... until him and I chatted, struck a deal, and I let him out.))

"You would," Rachel muttered.

((He was powerful, and I don't think I could've found a better ally. Too bad he cracked at the end.))

"I think he was cracked at the beginning," I muttered. Speaking of which... this cheese needed crackers.

((So what do you say?)) David asked us. ((Take me back on the plane, we'll use the box, you can hide it again, we'll hang out for a couple hours until you know I'm trapped, and I'll never see you again.))

We were all staring at Jake. No one wanted to make this deal, but I think we all had the same horrible feeling that we had to. Jake nodded slightly, and when he didn't get an overwhelming "no way! What are you doing?" reaction, he was affirmed that none of us could argue.

"Fine," Jake said. "You've got a deal."

((Follow me.))

David came out of the bushes and we saw his little rat face. It was funny seeing him again after, what was it a year? No, maybe not that long. Months? How many?

Whatever. All rats look the same.

David took us back, past the burned-down house. It was funny seeing it again. We'd only been in there for a couple nights, but it felt like it was forever. Now it was gone, just a big pile of ash.

I wanted to spit on it, because I knew that's where Sam's ashes were. But when I realized it was also where Momo's ashes were, a more somber mood overtook me. She'd stood up to him. She was probably the only person who ever had. She knew he would kill her for her defiance, but she still did. Why? Out of the hope – the very, very slim chance – that maybe she could still save us from him.

She'd died for us.

Nobody said anything, but you could feel the sorrow while we passed the ruins of the house. It meant something for all of us.

A few blocks later, David walked up the stairs of a new house. He crawled in through a hole at the corner of the door, and Jake opened the door and walked in first. He stopped dead in the doorway, and the rest of us tried to see why. I was too short, but I could hear.

"Manny," Jake said.

"What are you guys doing here?" the German boy demanded. He sounded angry.

((I led them,)) David explained. ((Relax. Where is she?))

"Upstairs," Manny said slowly. Jake entered the house and the rest of us followed. Rachel gave me looks as we walked in, and I was trying to figure out what she wanted to communicate to me by them. Then I remembered: no more secrets with Rachel. So I stopped trying to figure it out.

Speaking of weird looks, Cassie and Manny held stares for quite awhile. She'd originally entered the house right after Jake, but when they caught each others' glances she stopped walking and let the rest of us go ahead of her. They stared until we were all headed up the stairs, and then she came and followed us.

I lagged behind and whispered, "What's going on?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. But he doesn't like what he's doing."

"I don't like what he's doing, either."

((This door,)) David said. Jake opened it slowly, and I saw her, back to us. Convenient. We didn't have to worry about hiding my face.

Jake nodded and then shut the door. He said quietly to David, "So what now? She's just ours?"

((She's yours,)) David confirmed.

"Can we keep her here?"

((You can keep her here for the night. She only has one day left to go.))

Jake tilted his head. "I don't know if I believe you," he said. "I want to wait the full three."

((The Yeerk will crawl out when she's about to die,)) David assured us. ((One day. You'll see.))

A/N: Sorry I haven't been around much... I have a couple huge tests tomorrow that I've been stressing out about, but I wrote this chapter as a break. Also, I haven't been in the mood to deal with drama on this site... I hate drama, and whenever it starts, I avoid it. Unfortunately that meant waiting a bit for a new chapter, but here it is. :-)

I plan on ending this in the next... oh, I don't know... 5 or so chapters? Maybe less.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!


	15. Love

CASSIE

David was kind enough to set us up with accommodations, but it reminded us too much of Sam. So I stood watch, because I doubted I'd be able to sleep anyways. We also insisted on sharing a room, which meant Tobias and Ax took the floor. They didn't mind. In fact, I think Marco and Jake were more uncomfortable about sharing a bed than Ax and Tobias were sleeping on the floor. But neither one said anything.

Boys are so silly about stuff like that.

I was sitting outside the door in the hallway, with the door barely cracked open. I was told to play it off like I couldn't sleep, but like I said, I was hardly playing. I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep if I tried. David was... not visible, but he could have been anywhere. We weren't too worried about him, though. True, he was hard to spot, but he couldn't do much damage as a rat. The tricky thing we had to watch for was the fact that he could manipulate the others into doing possibly anything. That was the problem.

I trusted Manny, but I didn't trust David, and it seemed like David had a power over Manny that he couldn't break. So I was as willing as any to stand watch. Marco felt he had to in order to make up for getting us into this situation, but he was a lot more tired than I was, so it was easy enough to beat him out of it.

While I was sitting there, leaned up against the hallway's wall, Manny crept out of his room.

"Manny," I said quietly. He paused and looked at me, head sideways.

"Sophie," he replied. "What are you doing awake?"

It took me a minute to remember that's the name I'd given him as mine. "Oh, I... I've been having problems sleeping."

"Do you know what time it is?"

I nodded. "It's like 3, isn't it?"

"You should get to sleep."

I patted the floor beside me. "Sit down. How are you?"

He gave way to a small smile and sat down next to me, sighing as he did so. "I can't sleep, either," he told me. "I feel... horrible."

I nodded. "It's Momo, isn't it?"

"I really, really cared about her." He hung his head, placing it in his hands. I didn't know what to say, so I let the silence suffice until he decided to continue. "I can't believe I didn't do anything. Men like to believe they would stand up in that situation, but you know... I didn't think he would actually do it. Maybe if I knew she was going to die, I would have said something. But I just... I don't know, maybe that's an excuse."

I put my hand on his shoulder gently. He didn't react; he wasn't even startled. "It doesn't matter," I told him. "You know now that love is more important than duty."

"She shouldn't have had to die to teach me that," he replied, German voice muffled.

"I know, I know she shouldn't have. But she _did,_ and now you know. There's nothing you can do to change what happened, but now that you know what you did wrong, you will never do it again. There's nothing left to do now but honor her death by learning and living out the lesson you learned."

Manny's head rose slowly and he nodded, just barely. "Yes, but it's more than that."

"What else is it?"

"I... we dated, but I never told her how much I love her. I don't think she knew."

"She knew," I assured him. "I saw it in her eyes. And she loved you."

"Then why weren't we strong enough?"

"You were," I replied. "She was strong enough to stand up to him. But you, you're strong, too, and you'll get through this."

"I should have told her," he insisted. "Why didn't I?"

I shook my head. "It's understandable." Scary how much I was thinking about Jake right then. Feeling guilty for not telling him how much I cared about him. Here I was supposed to be the sensitive one in the group, but I couldn't even admit to my own feelings? How could I expect others to do that? "Jake and I... we care about each other, you know, but we never talk about it."

"You should," Manny replied. "You should, while you can. One day you won't be able to."

I nodded. "I know. But hopefully the war will be over, and then-"

"You are going to die," Manny told me firmly. "So is he. It is a guarantee that one day you will _not_ be able to say it to him anymore. You have to start now."

I bit my lip. How did this end up being about me? And why did I feel so horrible?

"Manny, why are you working for David?" I changed the subject fast. He seemed like a nice guy, so what was going on? "You know what he's doing to us?"

"I know he doesn't like you," Manny replied. "But he was second in command."

I shook my head. It was clear: Manny was one of those dutiful guys. "But Manny, you're fighting for the wrong side."

"There is no wrong side," he replied. "The wrong side is nothing more than the side you are not on."

"No, but he's-"

"What makes him the bad guy?" Manny asked me.

I paused for that one. It was a good question. I would have gone on about how the Yeerks are taking freedom from innocent people, but David wasn't on their side. He was his own side, a third side. What was he doing that was so wrong?

"He isn't trying to better anything," I finally said. "We're fighting to save the human race. We're fighting for freedom and peace. But David... he's just bitter, and he's fighting for his own selfishness. If he were concerned about the human race, he would help us, not hurt us."

"David hasn't done anything against the human race," Manny replied firmly.

"Well, yeah, but he definitely hasn't helped us."

"Does he have to in order to be a good guy?"

"No, but he has to_not_ get in our way to be a good one," I tried. He took in a deep breath and slowly let it go. Then he stood up.

"I like you, Sophie. You remind me of Momo. But I can't just give up what I've been fighting for."

"What are you fighting for?"

He paused, and then said, "In the military, many times the high ranking officer doesn't tell his troops what's going on. He only tells them the basics of what they must do, but usually with no explanation why. That's what Sam was."

"Sam did that because he had no reason," I replied.

"No, he had reason. Visser One had been hunting him for over a year. He had to kill her before she killed him."

"But... what he did to us..."

"I don't know all the intricacies of his plans," Manny said. "But it was never my place. I'm a good soldier, you know why? I'm loyal."

"But Manny, don't you believe in morality?"

He nodded. "Of course I do. But war is different."

"What if you're fighting for an immoral cause?"

"That is not my responsibility or right to decide. The leaders decide; their soldiers simply obey."

I couldn't believe a guy like Manny could be so blind to what he was doing. He seemed like a great person. I knew he was capable of love and laughter. Especially when we first met him, I remembered a time that I never saw his face without a smile. Where had that smile gone? I hadn't even known him for a week, but I knew he wasn't happy at times like this. He wanted a carefree life.

"You can't possibly be happy with this life," I finally said. He bit his lip and shook his head, sighing one more time.

"I'm not, but I sacrifice my happiness for the cause my leader deems worthy."

I didn't know men like Manny existed. Men who would follow so blindly, so unwaveringly to something they didn't even know or understand.

"Do you think that's smart?" I challenged.

"I don't know if it's smart. But I think it's honorable." After that, he walked away.

Honorable? What was honor? Was honor doing something with no reason, even when it involved sacrificing the people you love and your very happiness? I admit, I did respect his dedication. But I pitied him, too, because he had completely suppressed all common sense and independence that he was born with.

I pondered the idea of honor until the sun began to rise. I was sure that, if they were going to try anything, they would have done it in the dark. Now that it was getting light outside, we would probably be alright. Besides, since Manny's and my talk, I felt the uncontrollable urge to talk to Jake.

I went into the room and lay down on the bed next to Jake. I had never done something so forward, but it seemed right. Considering Manny's words, I knew how important it was to tell Jake how much I cared. I put my arms around his shoulders and he made a gentle noise, then eventually rolled over and faced me. When his eyes opened, they opened wide. He was surprised.

"Cassie," he whispered. "What are you doing?"

"I love you, Jake," I replied. "I know you know, but I had to tell you."

He smiled and put his own large, strong arms around me and pulled me in closer. "I love you, Cass."

I could have laid there in his arms forever, but not long after, Marco woke up. He sat up and said, "Oh, geez, guys... can't you wait till we get home?"

Jake pulled his arms back away from me and rolled over to face Marco. He lightly smacked him on the shoulder. "Shut up, man. Just because _you_ can't get a girl-"

"Excuse me, but I have seven waiting for me."

Jake laughed a little too hard, but soon Marco joined in the laughter. Then Tobias, Rachel, and Ax all woke up because of the noise we were making.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked in a yawn.

"Jake and Cassie are getting busy," Marco replied casually. "It's enough to make you puke."

"We weren't doing anything," Jake answered. "Marco's just got an imagination."

"Imagination or not, I'm still going to have nightmares about that sight."

We all shared a laugh. It was funny to act this way with them after everything that happened yesterday. Even Rachel, who'd been acting very glum since we got out of the house, laughed along with the rest of us. I think we all needed it.

A/N: Cassie/Jake romance... I had to... I can't have R/T with no J/C. :-)

Mrowkat - I'm going to be honest, I'm an idiot and it totally slipped my mind that the blue box doesn't work on nothlits. HOWEVER, my plan for this story will still work, so I'm going to pretend like I knew that. :p

xxtigergirlxx - Manny is a very tormented soul at the moment, and his emotions towards the Animorphs are... complicated. He wants to like them and trust them, but as you can see, he has a very strong sense of duty.

SouthrnBelle - It's not an important part of the story, but just the same, you will see what Rachel meant in the next chapter or so. But don't let it keep you up at night, because again, it's not incredibly pivotal.

General audience - no, there will be no sequel. When I end this, I'm going to end it. HOWEVER, I have 2 other Animorphs stories in the works right now. One of them has 1 chapter and the other has 2 already written. But, I only want to focus on 1 at a time. So I want to ask you guys... which would you rather see? A Marco romance with a new character (I don't like romances in general because they all seem the same, so for this fic I plan on adding a LOT to it to make it a lot of fun) or one that deals more with the Yeerks? The other one is about a Controller who discovers their identities, but does not tell Visser Three because he has his own... plans... yeah. :p ;-) It's going to be another crazy, bloody, action-packed fic. If you want to know more about either, you can PM me or just ask in a review, but that's what I'm thinking. Let me know what you'd rather see!


	16. Final Battle

MANNY

We could hear them laughing in the other room. Beto, Pepe, David, and I were on the opposite side of the hall, not directly across from their room, but close enough. David was prepping us on our duties during his absence.

((That's where we'll meet,)) he continued. He must have been almost done debriefing us on his plan. His plan was pure action, no explanation or motive. It was just what I expected from any competent leader. ((Are there any questions?))

"Why do we have to wait around for them?" Pepe asked.

((To make sure they're dead. They're morph-capable, remember, so they could react to the attack a million different ways. You guys can't leave this house until you see their dead bodies, got it?))

"But if you're-"

((I'm leaving because if they catch me, they'll kill me,)) he explained. ((And I'm mostly defenseless, anyways. You guys are my weapons. You have to be ready. Listen to Manny while you're here.))

I don't know why he named me leader. David knew that I felt horrible about this entire ordeal. He also knew that neither Pepe nor Beto had any qualms about doing what "needed" to be done. Of course, I was willing to carry out his orders. Of course, he didn't have to worry about my turning on him. But at the same time, having to give orders only made me wish all the more that I had never become involved. It put more responsibility on my shoulders. I deal well with responsibility when it is something I understand, but in this case, I didn't even know what we were fighting for. I wanted to avoid responsibility in case it was a cause less than reputable.

I would still follow David, but I would feel all the worse for it.

"What about the visser?" Beto asked.

((Leave her. We'll come back for her later.))

"What are you going to do with her?" I asked.

((I don't know. I may kill her.))

That answer was fine. She was a Controller, after all.

MARCO

When the door slammed shut, we figured David wasn't keeping his word on giving us the visser.

When the gas started coming through the vent, we figured David was... well, trying to kill us.

"Battle morphs," Jake said right away. Great way to wake up. Jake and Cassie going all Romeo and Juliet, and before I even had the chance to wipe the sleepies from my eyes, we're getting gassed. Wonderful. I love Spain.

Did he say battle morphs?

"Cockroaches will survive," I said.

"They locked us in the room," Jake replied, already changing into a tiger. "We have to bust out."

I would have recommended flying out the window, but that wouldn't be as much fun as ripping Beto's heart out, or crushing David in my huge gorilla hands. We had run away once already. We weren't going to do it again.

We were in battle morphs and ready to rock in no time, and we were well-rested from the lovely mattresses that were not firm, but not too soft. It was actually a beautiful night's sleep. We at least owed that much to the rat.

I didn't expect the gas to affect the gorilla, but it did. It was that strong. While it didn't knock me out, it did make me feel a little lightheaded and woozy. Which made me all the more determined to knock the door open with my fists. Which I did, but my knuckles hurt a little bit afterwards.

((Let's boogie,)) I said.

And that's when two Spaniards and a German boy came out their room to find a gorilla, grizzly, tiger, wolf, hawk, and Andalite stare them in the face. What did they hope to do?

Manny pulled out his gun. It would have looked threatening if it wasn't so pathetic. As a gorilla, I'd been shot by bullets before. My thick, leathery skin was like having a bulletproof vest all over my body, even my hands and my neck. He couldn't hurt me. He definitely couldn't kill me.

When I smelled the smoke, I was distracted for a second. Manny let off a shot that hit me on the right side of my chest, but it didn't hurt. I was more distracted with the familiar smell, and flashbacks from the first burning house during a faceoff with the first psychotic enemy. Sam's house burns, David's house burns. Couldn't wait for the party at Manny's.

((Is that...))

((Yeah,)) Jake said. ((They set it on fire.))

((It's a tribute,)) Cassie stated.

"RRRAAAAWWWRRR!" Jake's tiger snarled at the three human boys before us. Crouched. Pounced. Took Manny and Beto out in one shot.

((Someone, Visser One!)) Jake said. I turned right away and opened the door to the other room. Empty.

What?

((I'll find her,)) I vowed. ((If she's in this house, I'll find her.))

((Hurry! It's burning!))

((Oh, really?)) I replied. ((I didn't notice. Thanks.))

There were no other rooms on the top floor, so I went downstairs and started ripping it apart. I found another door, and when I opened it, there she was. Her back to me, there she was. It was so scary seeing her tied up like that, when my most frequent memory was of her tucking me into bed.

I started walking into the room, but the shock came back. The shock from Sam's house, it covered this room, too. Maybe David took it from his place somehow. Maybe they had two different machines, one replicating the other. Maybe... maybe the shock wasn't so much physical as it was emotional.

I think I stood in the doorway for a full minute before Jake said, ((Marco! We have to go! It's burning!))

((She's here, Jake,)) I replied. I added privately, ((I... I don't know...))

She knew it was on fire. She was struggling now, twisting around in her chair and trying to break free. I was dumbfounded. I couldn't demorph, but I couldn't enter the room. Where did that lead me? And where was Ax when I needed him?

((I need Ax,)) I called.

((We're a little busy!)) Jake replied.

((Three humans? Please.))

((You'd be surprised.))

((Well, what am I supposed to do?!)) I demanded. It was ridiculous. She was so close, but I just couldn't get to her. Couldn't be in morph. Couldn't let her see me as me.

((Bail!))

((What?)) I demanded.

((We have to get out,)) Cassie told me. ((Marco, Jake's hurt. The place is getting crazy. Get out of here.))

I turned around and saw that the entire living room area was up in flames by now. When I heard the crash of broken glass, I turned back and saw that she'd plunged through the window, chair still tied to her. She fell out onto the ground and had a piece of broken glass in her hands, which she used to immediately begin sawing at the ropes.

But she wasn't getting away from me this time.

I couldn't go through the room, so I turned around and went through a few open rooms and a couple of hallways to get to the front door. I ran as fast as I could, my heart pounding. This was it. This was my chance... again.

Out the front door. Around to the back. A broken window. A chair. Severed ropes, and human blood.

She was gone.

When the others came out, they were all demorphed, or in human morphs as the case may be. After looking around carefully and trying to hide my enormous black mass behind a few teens, I demorphed as well. I realized that, once again, everyone was staring at me.

"Why do you guys always do that?" I demanded.

"What happened?" Rachel asked me.

I shrugged. "She... got away," I said quietly. I knew it was coming. The pity glances, and me wincing in hopes that nobody would say anything sweet. Please, don't say anything sweet.

"So did the others," Jake said. "So did... David."

Cassie let out a large sigh. We all looked at each other for a long time, until the fire department showed up, sirens blaring and water blasting out from the hose. We snuck off behind the house before they asked us any pressing questions.

Nobody said they wanted to go home. Nobody had to. We all understood, plain as day: this mission was very, _very_ over. At this rate, if we kept tracing David down, all the houses in Madrid would turn to ash.

The truth was, we had no leads. We had nowhere to go. Visser One was loose, and by now she could have been anywhere. She could have been on a plane to Bora Bora, or she could have snuck into the next door neighbor's house. She could be in her car, out somewhere in rural Spain. She could have had a bad run-in with David and his goons, and maybe be dead. Maybe she was at a spa recuperating.

None of us felt like looking.

The same thing went for David. He could have been anywhere, and we just could not track him anymore. There were no leads. And, most importantly, there was no more energy.

I expected Jake to mention "living to fight another day" a couple of times. He didn't. He mentioned it about five million times, instead.

"I told you David was lying to us," Rachel spat at me as we waited around in the airport. The next plane to America didn't leave for another hour, so we were waiting at our gate. Rachel and I were sitting next to each other, with Tobias next to her and Ax next to me, in their human morphs. Jake and Cassie were sitting so that the were sort of back-to-back with Rachel and I. I think they felt like it gave them privacy, just because they weren't looking at us and we weren't looking at them. But we could have heard anything they said, if we cared to pay attention.

"What?" I demanded. "You did not!"

"Yeah, I did," she insisted. She stared at me with huge, hinting eyes. "I did this."

I shook my head. "What in the world was that? I didn't know what you were saying."

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out what I meant, given the circumstance."

I shook my head. "Jake? Make her stop."

Jake turned around in his seat to face us. Him and Cassie were sitting next to each other, holding hands. It was ridiculous. Nothing brought the Animorph couples together like insane battles.

"What's the problem now?" he asked, clearly tired and annoyed.

"Oh, don't let us interrupt," I quickly said. "Sorry, were you whispering sweet nothings into her ear?"

That earned me a good smack to the head.

A/N: The action one, huh? Are you guys SURE:p Because I was more excited about trying my hand at romance. Though, I was thinking... I only have 3 chapters written right now in total (2 for one story and 1 for the other.) And I realized I could combine the two, and have the Controller find their identities WHILE Marco is trying to nurse this budding romance. I think that's what I'm going to do, actually. I'll have to take a little time (couple of days to a week) to fuse them together, but you'll see a new story up sooner or later. Oh, and btw, I do not expect that all of you will read the other one. Just because you like this story doesn't make me think you'll read all my fics, and if this is the last we see of each other, so long and thanks for all the reviews:p

I was going to make this the end, but I do think I'll have one more chapter now between Rachel and Jake, just to get the whole "Rachel's secrets" thing wrapped up. But this is basically it!


	17. Coming Clean

JAKE

The phone rang. I didn't bother to get up and answer; mom and dad were grocery shopping, but I knew Tom was around. He liked answering the phone, anyways. He was possessive about stuff like that. Always had been, even before he was a controller.

I heard him talking to someone. It was normal stuff. I heard him ask "how's school going?" in an almost patronizing, overly polite tone. From the tone I would have guessed it was a relative. From the question, obviously a young relative.

"Yep, he's in his room."

Rachel?

Tom walked into my room. I was laying on my bed with an encyclopedia open to "el Palacio Real de España" – the Royal Palace of Spain. It made for interesting reading, and if he asked, I could always say it was a Spanish or social sciences project, paper, presentation... or whatever.

He handed me the phone and left my room. "Hello?" I asked.

"Jake, I have to tell you something."

It _was_ Rachel, but she sounded concerned. I don't know why, but I assumed something horrible had happened. Had David somehow contacted her? Maybe he'd gotten on our flight after all. But how? Had someone been following us?

"What happened?" I asked, hoping I'd be able to understand whatever kind of "code" she used next.

"Everything's okay," she said. "But I... I've been keeping some things from you."

That wasn't like Rachel. It wasn't even like an Animorph. We told each other everything, didn't we? "In person?" I asked.

"Of course."

"Is anyone at your house?"

"My mom's here, but we can get privacy," she replied.

"Okay. I'll be right over."

I had a sick stomach feeling as I drove to her place. Drove. It was funny, I hadn't driven in forever. These days I always flew. But Tom was around, and I didn't want to risk it unless I had a good reason to take that risk. Besides, it was nice to pretend I was normal. I think we all did stuff like this from time to time.

Flying was more convenient. No lights, and you could go in a straight line. It was faster. It was definitely a lot more fun. Flying was all-around more convenient, which is why driving didn't make sense. It didn't make sense for me, because it made sense for any other person.

It had been two days since we got back from Spain, but the jet lag was still killing me. Between a monster time change, an 8-9 hour flight, and lots of morphing, it was an exhausting trip. I tried not to make it out to be a big deal, otherwise my parents would think I had mono or something, but the truth was, getting up for school was even more torture some than it used to be.

I parked in the street and walked up to Rachel's door. Her mom answered the doorbell.

"Jake!" she greeted, opening the door for me to come in. "How have you been?"

"I'm good," I replied. "How are you?"

"Just fine, just fine," she assured me. I smiled. "Rachel's in her room," she said. "Do you want anything to eat? Drink?"

_I'd take a martini._ "No thanks, I'm fine."

"Go on up."

I walked up the stairs and knocked on her door. Rachel said, "yeah" and I came in. She told me right away to shut the door, and I could see affliction in her face. Something wasn't right.

I closed the door gently and sat next to her on her bed. "Rachel... what's wrong?"

"I wanted to tell you," she said. "But I couldn't."

"What?"

"Tobias knows; I told Tobias," she continued. I saw tears begin to collect in her eyes and worried even more. I knew my cousin, and she does _not_ cry.

"What happened?"

"Marco knows, too."

She was stalling. "Rachel, tell me," I begged.

"I didn't tell him; he just knew."

"Rachel!"

I didn't mean to sound threatening, but she didn't understand what she was doing to me in prolonging this. I knew it was hard for her, but if she had to tell me, she had to _tell_ me. She stared into my eyes for a long time, and then collapsed into me, making a whining noise as she did so. I put my arms around her.

"Whatever it is, I'm here," I said.

Her voice was muffled when she spoke. "Jake... it's Sam..."

At his name, I tensed up, but I didn't say anything. I was afraid that if I interrupted her speaking, she would never start again.

"... he raped me..."

I wasn't sure I heard it right. Sam? That twisted man. I hadn't pegged him that kind of person at all. Yeah, he tried to kill us. But at the same time... bloodlust was one thing. Rape seemed like something else entirely. What kind of person did it take to do something like that?

I rubbed my hand on her back. "Rachel, I don't know what to say."

"There's more."

What more could there be?

"What is it?" I asked.

"I didn't kill him." She started sobbing. I felt the wetness seep into my shirt, but it was warm. Fresh tears, right from her firey eyes, they were warm. "I... couldn't."

"Marco said you did," I said slowly.

"Marco doesn't know. Tobias doesn't know. Nobody knows, but I didn't do it."

Anyone else would have been proud to say they were innocent of someone's blood, but it was obvious that this distressed her. She sobbed for a few moments, but she didn't wail. And to be honest, I was surprised when she wiped her eyes and pulled away from me. It seemed too soon. I felt like there was more comforting to do, but Rachel only accepts comfort if she has to. The second it was no longer necessary, she pulled away from me and sniffed.

"He killed himself," she said, her once-shaky voice resuming its signature strength. "I never even had the gun."

"It's okay," I said. "You didn't have to kill him. Rachel, he's gone, and we're still here. That's all that matters."

"Do you think... do you think I could have?"

I nodded. "I'm sure you would have. Xena."

She smiled, but her eyes were still damp. "I feel like the others should know, just... I don't want a lie between us."

"Nobody has to know," I assured her. "It doesn't matter. He's gone, and we don't have to worry about it anymore."

Her smile grew. I think she was hoping I'd say that. "Thanks, Jake."

"I love you, 'cous."

"I love you, too."

She threw her arms around me in a tight hug. I hugged her back, and we sat there for a moment. Then she backed away from me and her eyes were dry again. "So," she said, voice normal. "Now that we've had a European vacation, when are we going to the Caribbean?"

A/N: New fic will be up eventually, but I don't know when. Thanks for reading!


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